Tadej Pogacar takes stage, van der Poel keeps lead, fan arrested

Tadej Pogacar won Stage 5 of the 108th Tour de France for UAE Team Emirates with Mathieu van der Poel still maintaining his overall race lead and yellow jersey.

Tadej Pogacar finished ahead of interim Stage 5 leader Team Groupama FDJ’s Stefan Kung in the individual time trials to win the stage at the 108th Tour de France on Wednesday 30 June.

While he finished in a faster time on the stage than current race leader Mathieu van der Poel, van der Poel’s earlier race lead of several seconds over Pogacar meant that he still maintained the overall race lead and yellow jersey.

van der Poel’s main rivals Wout Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe both took longer than Pogacar to finish the 27.2-kilometer long stage from Change to Laval and lost more seconds to van der Poel’s time trial run.

Tadej Pogacar maintains the white jersey as well

Mark Cavendish maintains the green jersey for the sprint points lead, Ide Schelling the polka dot jersey for the King of the Mountain classification and Pogacar, the white jersey for the best young rider.

While many general contenders lost time on the stage, van der Poel will now have to defend his race lead and yellow jersey in the next stage.

Fan who caused Stage 1 crash arrested

French judicial officials also announced that police had found and arrested the fan accused of causing a major crash during Stage 1 when she stepped out in front of the peloton with a cardboard sign for the TV cameras.

The fan presented herself to Landerneau authorities and currently faces a potential fine of 1500 Euros for disrupting the race but may have to pay for damages brought about by the riders and their teams.

Many riders crashed with 21 reporting injuries, one rider abandoning the race on the day and three, the next day.

Tour de France faces heat over rider safety

The Tour de France’s third stage also saw crashes with three more riders abandoning the race.

The UCI and race officials face calls to do more with route planning to consider rider and fan safety and riders stopped riding in a minute-long silent protest on Stage 4.

French towns bid to be included with the ASO and UCI then planning courses through winning towns.

However, high-speed cycling through old town centers with narrower streets, sharp bends and dips, and road fixtures create more safety hazards and danger for the cyclists.