Tour de France 2018 Stage 5 live stream: Watch online
By Zach Bigalke
The first hilly stage of the 2018 Tour de France looms on Wednesday. Here is how you can catch all the Stage 5 action online live through the Breton hills.
The first few road stages of the 2018 Tour de France skewed mostly flat. They afforded plenty of opportunities for the sprinters to fight for the yellow and green jerseys through the first weekend and beyond. Wednesday, however, is not one of those days. The ride to Lorient to Quimper features five categorized climbs in the final half of the day’s course.
Leaving Lorient, the road drops down to sea level in Guidel Plages less than five miles into the stage. From there the remaining participants in the Tour de France endure endless roller-coaster roads for much of the remaining 120 miles of racing. After passing the intermediate sprint in Roudouallec, the categorized climbs begin.
All five featured climbs are between one and two miles long at a stretch, with average grades between five and seven percent. The first two hills are ranked fourth-category, with just a single point at the top for the first man over the summit. The last three are third-category climbs, with points for the first two riders to crest the top. This stage presents the first real offering for the puncheurs in the peloton.
But what is a puncheur in the parlance of cycling?
A puncheur is a rider who excel in races like the one-day spring classics. This type of professional cyclist can conquer over 150 miles of riding in a day while enduring a series of challenges. Sometimes the challenge is cobblestoned roads similar to what we will see in Stage 9. Other times, the challenge is a barrage of short, punchy climbs like in the Tour of Flanders or the Amstel Gold Race.
The Stage 5 ride along the Breton coast as well as inland through the region’s hills fits the latter mold perfectly. This is the type of stage that Peter Sagan will enjoy far more than the pure sprinters in the green jersey competition. Stages like this are why Sagan has won five green jerseys instead of his contemporaries that are faster on a flat finish.
Sagan, though, is going to be a marked man. If it comes down to a sprint between a few key contenders, he will be a favorite. 2018 Flèche Wallone winner Julian Alaphilippe will be a sentimental favorite for the French fans along the roads. We could also see Tour of Flanders winner Niki Terpstra or Amstel Gold Race winner Michael Valgren get a shot at a stage win in this year’s Tour de France.
How to watch the stage
Here is how to catch Stage 5 at the Tour de France live on July 11. The action from Lorient to Quimper will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network. Live streaming of the action is available on NBC Sports Gold or FuboTV.
- Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2018
- Start time: 6:10 a.m. ET
- Start: Lorient, France
- Finish: Quimper, France
- TV Info: NBC Sports Network
- Live Stream: NBC Sports Gold, Fubo.TV
The weather won’t be too hot for the peloton as they roll through Brittany on Wednesday. Cloudy skies should greet the riders in Lorient. There is also a minor chance of precipitation toward the end of the stage in Quimper. That would only serve to heighten this stage’s spring classic feel to the course.
We will probably see several splits in the peloton in this hilly Breton stage. Like a spring classic, the true contenders for the stage will be in the mix. As previously mentioned, Sagan, Alaphilippe, Terpstra, and Valgren are among the favorites. So too is current yellow jersey Greg Van Avermaet, who has twice finished as a runner-up at the Tour of Flanders and won Paris-Roubaix in 2017.
Others to watch out for include white jersey hopeful Tiesj Benoot, who already has two top-eight finishes at the Tour of Flanders in his young career. Benoot was among the group of riders that crashed inside the final three miles of Stage 4, but if he is uninjured he will be a contender into Quimper.
Next: Tour de France 2018 route breakdown and highlights
In the opposite direction, evergreen 36-year-old Philippe Gilbert could slip into yellow for the second time in his career. The Belgian wore yellow for a day seven years ago when he won the opening stage of the 2011 Tour de France. Gilbert currently sits five seconds behind Van Avermaet. He would move to the top of the general classification with the 10-second time bonus for victory.
The last rider to win a Tour de France stage in Quimper was Thor Hushovd. The Norwegian sprinter won the 2004 sprint into the city over Kim Kirchen and Erik Zabel.