After a rare, stultifying stage with no breakaway, controversy erupted after the finish when Julian Alaphilippe was docked 20 seconds on the overall standings of the Tour de France, handing the yellow jersey to Adam Yates.
Alaphilippe crossed the line in 16th place, on equal time with the winner, and looked to spend another day in yellow, but it transpired he had taken a water bottle from a helper from another team inside the last 20 km, a clear violation of the rules. Normally this results in a fine, but the officials are within their rights to assess a time penalty, which they chose to do in this case.
Unfortunately this lent a sour note to a fine sprint win from Wout Van Aert in the tricky uphill finale in Privas, not to mention Sam Bennett finishing third and taking over the points classification from Peter Sagan, who faces some stiff opposition in his quest for a record eighth green jersey in Paris.
There was no change to the team classification or the best young rider standings.
Alaphilippe is unlikely to regain yellow in tomorrow’s summit finish to Mont Aigoual, where the GC contenders will have another chance to stamp their authority on the race.
| Stage | 5 | |
| Terrain | Flat | |
| Date | 09/02/2020 | |
| Route | ||
| Distance | 183 km | |
| STAGE RESULT | Points | |
| Stage 1st | 15 | Wout van Aert (B) TJV* |
| Stage 2nd | 12 | Cees Bol (NL) SUN* |
| Stage 3rd | 10 | Sam Bennett (Irl) DQT |
| Stage 4th | 8 | Peter Sagan (Svk) BOH |
| Stage 5th | 6 | Jasper Stuyven (B) TFS |
| Stage 6th | 5 | Luka Mezgec (Slo) MTS |
| Stage 7th | 4 | Bryan Coquard (F) BVC |
| Stage 8th | 3 | Caleb Ewan (Aus) LTS* |
| Stage 9th | 2 | Clément Venturini (F) ALM |
| Stage 10th | 1 | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) ISN |
| Intermediate sprint | 5 | Sam Bennett (Irl) DQT |
| Class 4 climb | 1 | Benoît Cosnefroy (F) ALM* |
| Class 4 climb | 1 | Benoît Cosnefroy (F) ALM* |
| Best young rider | 1 | Cees Bol (NL) SUN* |
| Most aggressive rider | 1 | Wout Poels (NL) TBM |
| Best team | 3 | MITCHELTON – SCOTT – MTS |
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OVERALL STANDINGS
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| Yellow jersey | 10 | Adam Yates (GB) MTS |
| Team classification | 7 | EF PRO CYCLING – EF1 |
| Green jersey | 7 | Sam Bennett (Irl) DQT |
| Polka dot jersey | 7 | Benoît Cosnefroy (F) ALM* |
| White jersey | 5 | Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAD* |
The Ottawa Tour de France Pool 