Australia's Stuart O'Grady cast some sunshine on a disappointing week for his
compatriots and Cofidis team-mates with victory on stage five of the Tour de
France.
Today saw Brad McGee become the third Australian to pull out of the race while
Cofidis - home to David Millar - have been working under the shadow of the drugs
investigation which cost the Scot his place in the Tour.
The 30-year-old - who dedicated the win to Millar and Cofidis - had moved to
France's leading team to boost their chances of a stage win and he fulfilled his
part of the deal after joining a five-man breakaway which led for all but 16 of
today's 200.5 kilometres.
The other chancers to join O'Grady were Sandy Casar of fdjeux.com, Jakob Piil
of CSC, Magnus Backsted of Alessio and Brioches La Boulangerie's French national
champion Thomas Voeckler.
A combination of bad weather and a route which offered little opportunity for
the Tour's big-hitters to gain any advantage over each other meant their
boldness was rewarded as the peloton was unwilling to seriously chase the
quintet once they had attacked not long after leaving Amiens.
As they arrived in their destination of Chartres, the alliance which saw the
five work together to stay ahead of the pack was broken as they engaged in a
series of cat-and-mouse attacks.
But it was veteran sprinter and former track star O'Grady who had the tactical
know-how to time his break to perfection just metres from the line, claiming a
second Tour stage win to go with his Grenoble success six years ago.
O'Grady also moved into contention for the green points jersey after winning
all three intermediate sprints to close the gap on another Australian, Robbie
McEwen, who recovered from a fall and a puncture to take sixth place in a
sprint.
Voeckler did at least have the consolation of taking the yellow jersey from
Lance Armstrong but that will not bother the Texan too much as he still enjoys a
healthy advantage over the men most likely to take his title.
The Frenchman enjoys a nine-minute lead over Armstrong but Voeckler is well
aware of his chances.
He told Eurosport: "I don't think he's worried about me. I'm not a danger on
the general classification, I just want to keep the yellow jersey as long as I
can."
Today's route took the Tour south but the bad weather which battered
yesterday's team time-trial followed them as the riders again had to contend
with rain and blustery wind.
Unsurprisingly, given the conditions, there were more falls with Roberto Heras
among the those hitting the tarmac with around 90km to go.
The Spaniard, in contrast to compatriot Iban Mayo who lost minutes in a fall
on Monday, was fortunate that enough riders came down with him to take away the
incentive for an attack by the rest of the peloton.
In particular, Mayo might have been glad to see several US Postal bodies
around him as that would have reassured him that Armstrong - who took full
advantage of Mayo's fall - was unlikely to initiate a break.
The big casualty of the day was McGee, who became the third Australian to
retire from the race after suffering a puncture.
The 91st Tour had seen a record number of Australians expected to start the
race with 10 entered before the prologue last Saturday.
However, Matt White crashed just hours before the start while Nick Gates was
forced to pull out after the first stage.
And their number was reduced to seven with McGee finally succumbing to the
back pain which had plagued him since Sunday.
The former track world champion - winner of last year's prologue - had come
into the race with high hopes built on a fine performance in the Giro d'Italia
in May.
But he will turn his mind to the Olympics from tomorrow after the puncture
added insult to his injury and left him labouring badly to get back on the
peloton.