Stage 5 was the tour’s first real climbing, with some technical turns and cobbles foreshadowing the formidable Roubaix stage to come. An early break consisting of Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Samsic), Julien Vermote (Dimension Data), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Soudal), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Tom Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) kept things interesting.

Chavanel, riding in his 18th tour, animated the group, allowing his teammate Calmejane to conserve energy for the final climbs. Ultimately the battle came down to Skujins, Calmejane, and Edet, who were nonetheless caught by Julian Alaphilippe (Quickstep Floors) and the rest of the peloton with around 10k to go.

The GC riders were not without troubles; Adam Yates (Michelton-SCOTT GreenEdge) hit the deck for the third time in five stages, and Chris Froome (Sky) suffered a mechanical. Top sprinters like Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data for Qhebeka) and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) lost all hope of contact with the peloton on the climbs.

Sprinters apparently not suffering were Quickstep’s Fernando Gaviria and world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) who notched his second win of the tour on the punishing uphill finish. At the end of this exciting day, the GC standings (including Yates and Froome) remained virtually unchanged.