Rolling report of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to Colmar (175.5km)Tour de France 2019: stage-by-stage guideEmail Barry here. Tweet @bglendenning 11.43am BST He’s certainly not everybody’s cup of tea, but Lance Armstrong’s stage-by-stage analysis on his Tour de France podcast is well worth the time of those prepared to look beyond his well documented past and accept that he might actually know what he’s talking about. Armstrong isn’t afraid to pull punches in his daily chats with his former team-mate George Hincapie and pal JB Hager. It often makes for very interesting listening indeed. 11.36am BST Orla Chennaoui was posing the questions as Adam Blythe and Brian Smith picked over the bones of stage four on Eurosport yesterday. It was a show that will not have made for pleasant viewing for Team Jumbo-Visna and their sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, who got quite the savaging. 11.36am BST 11.36am BST Elia Viviani sprinted to his maiden Tour de France stage victory, Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey and defending champion Geraint Thomas played down what some have described as the very sloppy loss of five seconds on the previous day. Related: Tour de France: Elia Viviani edges Kristoff in stage four bunch sprint 11.35am BST 10.39am BST From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: Best described as Vosges-lite, skirting three sides of the massif with two second and two third category climbs to shake up the pack. There is a good chance that an early escape will stay away today as keeping a team chasing will be hard in the tough finale – two climbs in the final 35km – while behind the move the peloton will be whittled down to 30 or 40. A good day for a strong breakaway rider such as Thomas De Gendt or Matej Mohoric, one where the favourites will want to avoid losing time or expending too much energy, with day six in mind. Continue readingread full article
