ARENBERG PORTE DU HAINAUT, France — Australian rider Simon Clarke won a crash-marred fifth stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday while Wout van Aert clung onto the leader’s yellow jersey despite coming off his bike.
The big winner though was Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar, who kick-started his bid to win a third straight Tour with a sensational ride over the cobbles to slash the gap to Van Aert to 19 seconds on a day where several of his rivals lost time. Pogačar had a broad smile as he crossed the line.
It was a first individual win on the Tour for Clarke, who was in tears after crossing the line. Clarke had won a team time trial in the race in 2013 and also two individual stages in the Spanish Vuelta.
Clarke sprinted to victory from the remnants of an early breakaway, edging out Taco van der Hoorn.
Edvald Boasson Hagen finished two seconds behind, at the end of the 157-kilometer (97-mile) leg from Lille Métropole to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut that went over some of the feared cobblestones that feature on the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic.
American cyclist Neilson Powless just missed out on a podium finish but moved into second in the overall standings, 13 seconds behind Van Aert and just one second ahead of Boasson Hagen.
The day saw several incidents and Van Aert was one of the first to take a tumble but his crash came as the riders were racing towards the first of the 11 cobbled sections. He was able to get back on and catch up with the peloton – although he almost went down again as he clipped the wing mirror of his own team car.
Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan were also involved in incidents as nerves set in. Ewan’s crash came as he hit a hay bale that had come loose from the barriers and that also affected Primož Roglič, who has fallen more than 2 minutes behind his Slovenian rival.
Thursday’s sixth stage is the longest one of the race and is a hilly 220-kilometer route from Binche to Longwy.
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