Stage 5 was meant to commemorate the start of World War I and was raced through the battlefields of Flanders Fields. Using the analogy of war to talk about this stage would be disrespectful to our veterans, but in the context of sport this was as close as it gets.

The stage certainly lived up to expectations in terms of the amount of drama it produced. The biggest news of the day was that Chris Froome crashed twice and had to abandon the Tour. It was the first time since 1980 that a defending Tour champion had to abandon (the last was Bernard Hinault because of a knee injury). We spoke to Race doctor Florence Pommerie after Froome’s crash yesterday and she said while no fracture was visible in x-rays, it didn’t rule out the possibility that a bone had been damaged.

On a rain-soaked day of racing, it was carnage on the slippery roads as many riders touched down on the pavé, but Chris Froome was the only DNF. Lars Boom took an enormous victory in Arenberg-Porte du Hainaut, Vincenzo Nibali rode an incredible race to increase his lead over his overall classification contenders, while Alberto Contador lost more time than many of the other GC contenders.

Click here for the full race results and report from Stage 5 of the 2014 Tour de France.

Enjoy the photos from stage 5 courtesy of BrakeThrough Media (follow on Instagram and Twitter) and Cor Vos.



























































