Tour de France #5: Boasson Hagen fights back after late puncture

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) sprinted to the stage 5 victory at the Tour de France. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) finished in 2nd and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) was 3rd.

Stage 5 of the Tour de France included some of the first "real" climbs of this year's race with two category 2 and two category 3 climbs included over the 175km route.

From early on in the stage, it was clear that there was a number of teams committed to controlling the race and setting it up for their sprinters, that could climb with some of the best.

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka had a really strong card to play in Edvald Boasson Hagen, as our Norwegian was looking good on all the early climbs. Unfortunately, lady luck abandoned Boasson Hagen at the start of final climb as he suffered a puncture.

After a quick change, Boasson Hagen had to chase back to the reduced front group. With just Michael Valgren and Roman Kreuziger remaining in the front group for Team Dimension Data, Boasson Hagen had to go at it alone and try to recover the 1-minute deficit he had at the top of the climb, with just 19km to go.

A daredevil descent through the convoy saw Boasson Hagen make it back to the front group with 9km to go. Valgren was then able to position our fast man near the front, to contest the sprint. "The Boss" paid for his chase effort though and while he was in the mix for the win, he would cross line in 12th on the stage.

"I had to spend some energy there, but I managed to get back. I didn't have too much left to sprint with but it's nice to have at least finished with this group. We had Roman and Michael in the front but it was better they stayed there, the final was hectic and technical in the convoy and it wasn't sure I could even make it back. I didn't end with a good result but at least it shows I can be there, and we will try again when there are more climbs like this." - Edvald Boasson Hagen