TDF 2014 Stage 5 - Good for Boom, Bad for Froome

Ever since the 2014 Tour route was revealed, there has been much talk about Stage 5.  The last time the race headed over the cobbles of Northern France, Frank Schleck's race was over (and he was still capable of winning races back then) when he hit the deck on one of the pave sections.  

This time around we had the added treat of a generous helping of rain.  The organisers may have cut out a couple of sections due to the weather, but it was still cobbled carnage out there.  There were spills aplenty, but the only actual DNF for the stage was the Froome-Dog, who fell off twice before they even hit the cobbles and after picking himself up for the second time decided that enough was enough.

So with Froome out of the way, it should have been a great chance for Contador to make his move.  Unfortunately for Alberto, that move was backwards.  

With the peloton fractured into small bits, Contador was left chasing the lead group containing the Yellow Jersey, Nibali and two team-mates.  In fact if it wasn't for Lars Boom, we could have been treated to a 1-2-3 all from one team.




Luckily, Lars Boom won, giving the Dutch their first stage-win in many a year.

And giving me a chance to use this.

A good smattering of hard-men put the Olliepops on top today.

TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
Olliepops	OJ	1	419
Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	402
2.35.24	Den	3	269
Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	4	252
Huntington Pharmacy	Late night meds from	5	243
Drews Riders, Useless Generally Speaking	Drew Stephenson	6	236
Three Little Pigs	Isabel Harrison	7	213
ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	8	203
KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	9	165
Evil Yorkshire Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	10	163
Smugblokes	Mr Smug	11	154
Stans Finest	Mark	12	153
Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	13	144
The Doom of Froome	Warwick Anderson	14	143
Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	15	140
Rouleurs	tdm911	16	131
Miffy`sMountain Goats	Helen S	17	124
School of Hardknotts	Jonathan Wilcox	18	117
Charmers	Craigatron	19	75
Expensive Bike Pumps due to Inflation	Vinny PL	20	70
The Hopalongs	Dave	21	56
Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	22	53
Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	23	29
A True Underdog Story	Patches O`Houlihan	24	8

It's still Haxby Pharma leading the overall, but the lead has come down a little as the Olliepops move up to second.

TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	1	1605
Olliepops	OJ	2	1482
Mungo Cycling	Mungo	3	1468
The Doom of Froome	Warwick Anderson	4	1463
ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	5	1210
2.35.24	Den	6	1208
KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	7	1169
Evil Yorkshire Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	8	1151
Three Little Pigs	Isabel Harrison	9	1131
Drews Riders, Useless Generally Speaking	Drew Stephenson	10	995
Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	11	990
Huntington Pharmacy	Late night meds from	12	981
Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	13	970
Charmers	Craigatron	14	966
Stans Finest	Mark	15	964
Rouleurs	tdm911	16	936
Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	17	906
Expensive Bike Pumps due to Inflation	Vinny PL	18	783
Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	19	761
Smugblokes	Mr Smug	20	610
Miffy`sMountain Goats	Helen S	21	448
School of Hardknotts	Jonathan Wilcox	22	444
The Hopalongs	Dave	23	378
A True Underdog Story	Patches O`Houlihan	24	66

With all today's thrilling action behind us, lets look ahead to Stage 6 and what will most likely be another sprint/Kittel thing.  I bet Haxby Pharma are pleased.