Question. How can race organizers make a flat sprinter stage exciting?
Answer. Make the riders crash.
I counted 6 in all. Most were minor, and involved single riders falling, but being able to recover and in some cases ride the same bicycle. But a few were a little more serious, with one multiple rider crash resulting in Radio Shack rider Jani Brajkovic being taken to hospital with a fractured collar bone and concussion, and well known Belgian champ Tom Boonen also going down hard. Boonen managed to recover and complete the stage under the cut off time, so he can start stage 6, however it will be a painful morning.
Defending champ Alberto Contador was also involved in a minor spill, however he casually tossed his bike off to the side of the road, then pedaled away on his second bike, and back into the peloton.
Fortunately for the contendors, all the mishaps happened well before the final kilometers of the stage giving the peloton time to regroup with no splits, and therefore no change atop the leader board.
Thor retains the yellow, and the Mouth of Mann, Mark Cavendish sprints to the stage win.
Stage 6 moves to Normandy, and Dinan to Lisieux, and this years longest stage with two cat 3 and one cat 4 climb. Not enough to offer make up opportunities for the contendors, but sufficient to make things interesting as it may just split the peloton, especially with a multitude of bumps and bruises resulting from Wednesday’s stage.
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