Lotto’s André Greipel made it two stages in two days by winning the sprint in Tour de France Stage Five, but this victory was a lot sweeter. In Stage Four a crash sidelined Sky’s Marc Cavendish; in Stage Five, Greipel went head-to-head with his prime rival and crossed the line first in a tough uphill sprint.
Greipel had the advantage of a leadout train to deliver him to the final 200 meters at speed. He also had the tremendous luck—and skill—to stay upright when a rider crashed into him 2500 meters from the finish. Greipel got pushed hard sideways but somehow didn’t go down.
Greipel recovered, fell in behind teammate Greg Henderson, and took off for the final sprint.
“It was one of the most difficult sprints ever. I was nearly involved in a crash at a few hundred meters before the finish,” Greipel said on the Lotto-Belisol website. “At this sloping arrival I made the difference very clearly. I’m happy of course, you never get used to a victory in the Tour.”
Cavendish ran out of gas in the final few meters and ended up fifth.
