Stage 5 | Vittel / La Planche des Belles Filles | Tour de France 2017

The first mountain-top finish of the 2017 Tour de France offered a few clues as to who is going to contend for the final yellow jersey of the race but La Planche des Belles Filles did not provide the big sort we have seen on the climb in the Vosges in the past.

In this episode of The Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and François Thomazeau discuss Fabio Aru’s stage win – the second time an Italian national champion has won on top of this climb in the Tour, the previous winner being Vincenzo Nibali in 2014, the year he went on to win overall.

Chris Froome took the yellow jersey from his Team Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas, who was left to do support work he might not have expected to but for Sergio Henao’s disappearing act in the closing kilometres.

We also look back at the crash between Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish, which put the Manx sprinter out of the race because of his injuries and the world champion out of the race as a result of the jury’s decision. We ask a range of riders and sports directors their opinion on the crash and the punishment.

And there’s a sensational new segment called The Water Feature (it’s a one-off, we promise) in which François says he can tell Contrex mineral water from the Tour de France’s official water, Vittel, and a couple of other French brands.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science in Sport.