Fabio Aru of Team Astana won stage five of the 2017 Tour de France, breaking away in the final two kilometers of the climb at La Planche des Belles Filles. Chris Froome of Team Sky came third to take the yellow jersey.

The start of stage five was overshadowed by the ongoing debate surrounding the disqualification of world champion Peter Sagan after the Slovak appeared to elbow Mark Cavendish into the barriers at the culmination of stage four. The Briton suffered a broken shoulder blade and is also out of this year's Tour.

The breakaway pass a bridge on stage five

Immediately on stage five, a breakaway group containing Edvald Boasson Hagen, Philippe Gilbert, Jan Bakelants, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Thomas Voeckler, Mickael Delage, Thomas De Gendt and Dylan van Baarle built up a gap on over 2min 37sec.

Meanwhile, team BMC took over leadership of the chasing peloton, sporting director Yvon Ledanois sending out a warning message on French television, saying: "Sky isn’t the only strong team at the Tour de France; BMC is as strong as Sky if not even stronger." Still, as the field approached the final 20% climb, it was Team Sky who set the pace.

But the first to break away was Astana's Aru, the Italian putting a significant gap between himself and the field with two kilometers to go. Froome tried to follow, chased by Daniel Martin and Richie Porte but Aru held on to take the stage.

Thursday's sixth stage takes the riders 216km from Vesoul to Troyes.

mf/hf (SID, AFP)