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TOUR DE FRANCE 2013

Tour de France 2013: Stage 5 preview

Britain's Mark Cavendish will be among the sprinters with one eye on the finale of the Tour de France fifth stage from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille on Wednesday.

Published: 3 July 2013 09:18 CEST

Tour de France 2013: Stage 5 preview

Tour de France

CLICK HERE FOR RESULT AND REPORT OF STAGE 5

Cavendish, who has won 23 stages on the race, came to the 100th edition hoping to build on a successful campaign at the Giro d'Italia where he won five times.

However the Isle of Man rider was not in contention in the opening stage, won by German sprinter Marcel Kittel, and was given little chance to shine on the two, hillier, stages on the French island of Corsica.

After Tuesday's team time trial over 25 km, where Cavendish's Omega-Pharma team were pipped to the victory by 1sec by Orica-GreenEdge, the race resumes Wednesday with a fifth stage which, at 228 km, is the second longest of the race.

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Beginning in Cagnes-sur-Mer just outside Antibes, it is long, undulating and will be made even tougher by the likely crosswinds blowing off the coast.

A sprint finish is a possibility, but the fast men of the peloton could be pushed into using up precious reserves on the Col de la Gineste, whose summit is 12 km from the finish line in Marseille.

If they negotiate that ascension successfully their teams will look to wind up the pace in the closing kilometres before preparing the lead-out for their respective sprinters in the finale – a 500-metre long home straight.

Australian Simon Gerrans will start Wednesday's stage as the new race leader following Orica's triumph in the race against the clock and he intends to "keep the yellow jersey for a few days."

The following is an expert video preview of Stage 5, from Global Cycling Network.

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Froome crowned Tour de France winner in Paris

Chris Froome clad in the yellow jersey that he has made his own. Photo: Pascal Guyot/AFP

Britain's Chris Froome was crowned champion of the 100th edition of the Tour de France as Germany's Marcel Kittel powered his way to his fourth win on the 21st and final stage on Sunday.

Team Sky's Froome, the winner of three stages in this edition, claimed his aiden yellow jersey with a winning margin of 4min 20sec on second-placed Colombian Nairo Quintana of Movistar.

"I think it's going to take a while to sink in," said a triumphant Froome, who succeeded teammate and compatriot Bradley Wiggins, absent this year, as
the yellow jersey champion.

"It's really has been a special edition of the Tour de France this year. Every day I woke up knowing I faced a fresh challenge… and I have to thank all my teammates for helping me achieve this dream."

Race debutant Quintana, who moved up to second place thanks to his maiden stage win at the summit finish of Annecy-Semnoz on Saturday, secured the race's white jersey for the best young rider and the best climber's polka dot jersey.

He was joined on the podium by Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), third at 5:04 and one place ahead of former two-time winner Alberto Contador of Spain, who slipped to fourth on Saturday's penultimate stage.

Slovakian Peter Sagan of Cannondale won the points competition's green jersey for the second successive year with a tally of 409 points and a 97-point lead on former winner Mark Cavendish of Britain.

Argos sprinter Kittel ended Cavendish's hopes of a fifth consecutive win on the Champs Elysees when he outsprinted the Omega-Pharma sprinter and German Andre Greipel of Lotto in a thrilling dash for the line.

Greipel, the winner of one stage, finished second with Cavendish, a close third.

It left Kittel, with four stage wins, as the top sprinter of this year's race and allowed the German to close the race as he opened it having won the opening stage from Porto Vecchio to Bastia.

"Four! I can't believe it," said Kittel. "It was a dream of mine to win on the Champs Elysees and now I've done it. I'm so proud."

Froome began the final stage with a lead of 5:03 on Quintana — the largest margin since disgraced American Lance Armstrong claimed his sixth win in 2004 with a lead of six minutes on German Andreas Kloden.

However, the Briton, who was unchallenged on a final stage which is traditionally contested by the sprinters, lost time to the Colombian in the final, frantic laps of a packed-out circuit in the French capital.

Froome thus becomes the second successive Briton to win the race after teammate and compatriot Bradley Wiggins, who made history as Britain's first winner in 2012, when Froome finished runner-up.

The 28-year-old Froome, born in Nairobi, won three stages on this year's race — two on mountaintop finishes and one time trial — to take his tally to
four.

His performances on this year's race, the first since the downfall of Armstrong, raised eyebrows among sceptics.

Team Sky chief Dave Brailsford, however, maintained that Froome and his team are clean and that in the Kenyan-born Briton, the sport is in "safe hands".

"Chris really deserved this win, he worked so hard for it," said Brailsford, who helped orchestrate British track cycling's rise to world and Olympic domination in the past decade before turning his sights on road racing.

"If you look at the future of cycling, I think in a rider like Chris the sports is in safe hands. There are no doubts about our team, no doubts whatsoever."

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