Tour de France stage 5 LIVE result: Tadej Pogacar takes time from rivals as Simon Clarke wins stage

145km go to: There’s a bit of a messy start to this stage, with that trio now being hunted down by a group of 15 riders on the chase. Three of those 15 then break out Powless, Gougeard, and one other.

150km to go: A few early attacks under way off the front. A trio gets away made up of Taco van der Hoorn, Magnus Cort (the polka dot jersey) and Edvald Boasson Hagen.

We are officially under way in the fifth stage of the Tour de France! 155km to go...

The man in the yellow jersey, Wout van Aert, speaking before the stage today:

“We have to see this as an opportunity to make a move in the GC,” he says, before hinting that he might be given licence to go and win the stage rather than simply sit and protect Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. “We will see how it goes,” he says.

His role – either as stage challenger or team defender – would have been an interesting topic of conversation on the Jumbo-Visma bus last night and this morning.

Some numbers here from yesterday’s finale:

Wout van Aert remains in the yellow jersey, and his finish in the top of every stage has accrued plenty of bonus seconds to give him a healthy lead in the overall standings.

1. Wout van Aert, Belgium, Jumbo-Visma, 13h 2m 43s.

2. Yves Lampaert, Belgium, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, +25s behind.

3. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates, +32.

4. Mads Pedersen, Denmark, Trek-Segafredo, +36.

5. Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands, Alpecin-Deceuninck, +38.

6. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark, Jumbo-Visma, +40 .

7. Primoz Roglic, Slovenia, Jumba-Visma, +41.

8. Adam Yates, Britian, Ineos Grenadiers, +48.

9. Stefan Kung, Switzerland, Groupama-FDJ, same time.

10. Thomas Pidcock, Britain, Ineos Grenadiers, +49.

The riders are on their bikes, and they’ll have a 10km jaunt around the streets of Lille before reaching Kilometre Zero and the start of stage 5.

Here’s an interview with that man Pogacar before the Tour:

In Monaco, Tadej Pogacar blends into the city. He walks invisibly through the streets and potters freely around his local supermarket. Even in his favourite bike shop, the best cyclist in the world queues among the muggles without being disturbed. “I like to go inside and see what’s new, and of course I don’t mind if there’s customers in front of me, it’s normal,” he says.

By all measures a double Tour de France champion should be one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet, a bonafide global superstar unable to walk through a hotel lobby without dark glasses and an entourage, but somehow Pogacar has not yet transcended the sport. One suspects if he was from cycling’s European heartlands or the US with a name that rolled off the tongue, his profile might be a little different. His “TP” brand with an eagle motif and a “never give up” tagline is yet to take off quite like Roger Federer or Tiger Woods.

But understated and low-key is how Pogacar approaches life and cycling, just riding for the joy of it, an ethos which has brought rich rewards so far. After winning back-to-back Tours de France, an historic third next month would set him firmly on course to becoming one of cycling’s all-time greats, and what makes it all possible is just how little he is driven by his own sporting legacy. “For me that’s not something that I would enjoy after [my career] too much and brag about it. I work hard to win a lot of races, but for me the priority is just to be a good friend to my friends and have good relations with the people I want in my life.”

An interesting sub-plot to these early stages is the tactics of Jumbo-Visma. The Dutch team are the main challengers to UAE Emirates leader Tadej Pogacar and his quest to win his third Tour de France in a row, and they possess the duel threat of Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, the two riders who finished second to Pogacar over the past two Tours. But another Jumbo-Visma rider Wout van Aert is doing a brilliant job in these early stages, having finished second on the first three days in Denmark before winning spectacularly in Calais yesterday, and currently holds the yellow jersey.

If Van Aert was to win today he would pick up yet more time bonuses and extend his advantage at the top of the standings, and if his form was continue to the end of the week, then at what point would Jumbo-Visma decide to shift their focus? Could his lead become strong enough that it is worth protecting in itself, rather than risk switching emphasis to Roglic and Vingegaard? They may be the more natural climbers when the road steepens in the Alps and the Pyrenees later in the Tour, but don’t forget that Van Aert has a stage win on his CV up Mont Ventoux – he is no slouch in the mountains.

If Pogacar is to be defeated by Jumbo-Visma, their team tactics will need to be inch perfect. Van Aert’s odds for overall victory have shrunk considerably over the past few days – he is now around 25/1 and sixth favourite, which might ordinarily be a good thing. But Jumbo-Visma now have three of those six riders, and it could prove a difficult balancing act.

And here’s a look at our stage-by-stage guide to see what’s coming up. Some hilly stages, very little for the sprinters, before some serious mountain tests where will start to see the fight for the yellow jersey unfold.