54 - Tour de France stage 5

Post no. 54 here:

Stage 5 of the Tour de France was the 164.5 kilometre ride from Carhaix to Cap Frehel, which saw several race contenders’ crash and hit the tarmac. 

Britain's Mark Cavendish felt he had silenced the "ignoramuses" after claiming his 16th career win on the crash-marred fifth stage of the Tour de France. Cavendish, who claimed 15 stage wins over the previous three Tours, came into this year’s race knowing there would be only a handful of chances to win, and after blowing a chance on stage 2 it would feel even better for Cavendish.

Last year’s winner Alberto Contador, who also crashed on the first stage when he lost over a minute to key rivals, is hoping things improve after a disappointing start to the Tour. "It was a very tense stage with a lot of crashes," Contador said.

Mark Cavendish after the stage win

Overall Standing:

1. T. Hushovd

2. C. Evans (+1 sec)

3. F. Schleck (+4 sec)

Some of you may wonder, how can the leader only be leading by 1 second...this is because the rules stipulate that all the riders in the race's main pack cross the line at the same time as the first rider. But if a split forms and the gap is larger than one second, the next group gets the time of the first rider of that group.

Joke of the Day:

Q. How do cow's subtract?

A. With a cow-culator