Aussie update: Matthews shows his speed, McCarthy lives his dreams

Michael Matthews closed in on the points tally for the Green Jersey, Jay McCarthy revealed he’s held off visiting Paris until he’s had the chance to ride there and Richie Porte catapulted up the GC after the first major showdown in the 2017 Tour de France.

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) sprinted closer to the green points jersey during Stage 5 of the Tour de France. Source: Getty Images

Sunweb dial their lead-out

Post-stage analysis has paid off for Michael Matthews and his Sunweb team, with the Australian winning the Stage 5 intermediate sprint for the “best of the rest” last night.

The result saw Matthews add seven valuable points to his green jersey campaign. He currently sits third in the competition for the best sprinter on 73 points, 14 points behind second place, Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors). Arnaud Demare (FDJ) still leads the race within the race on 127 points.

“I think we showed that we do have a really strong lead-out here,” said Matthews.

“In the last two flat sprints we’ve lost each other in the chaos, so we did some analysis about it the last days and we showed today that we do have it, and that if we do nail the lead-out I’ve got the speed to take it away."

“To win a stage is still our main goal here. I’ve got the legs and we’ve got the team to support me too. It’s amazing here in the team, everything’s going so smooth and so organised which makes the job easier to do at the highest level.” - Michael Matthews

“We did a good lead-out there and [Matthews] took the maximum points available behind the eight guys in front. I’m happy about that because the stage victory wasn’t possible today. We took it easy on the climb and we focus on tomorrow now,” added Sunweb coach, Aike Visbeek.

Stage 6 presents a good opportunity for Matthews to fight for the stage win in Troyes.

Jay McCarthy is enjoying the Tour of his dreams

In addition to a classy performance on the bike, Queenslander Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) let us in on his sentimental side last night.

“It’s going to be a really nice experience to actually go to Paris,” said the 24-year-old Tour debutant.

“Before doing the Tour I always said that I’d only go to Paris when I’m doing the Tour de France. So the first time will hopefully be when I’m riding down the Champs-Elysees.”

We look forward to watching you ride into Paris too, Jay!

Porte jumps from 20th to fifth in the GC

Richie Porte and his BMC team showed a confident display of strength, composure and good morale on the first climbing test of the Tour.

Results round up

After Porte’s fourth place finish, McCarthy was the next best finisher from Australia five minutes and 48 seconds behind stage winner Fabio Aru in 62nd place.

Super domestique Damien Howson (Orica-Scott) finished just under eight minutes down, while Ironman Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) and Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) rolled through together almost ten minutes back. Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data) and Mathew Hayman (Orica-Scott) also finished safely, further back in the field.

Overall, it was a good day for the Orica-Scott team with British rider Simon Yates climbing into sixth overall and pulling on the white jersey for the best young rider. The team has also weighed in on the Sagan Sprinting Saga with some suggestions of their own.

🎥 #TDF2017: We talk safe sprinting, @SimonYatess takes the white jersey and we put a call out to @RealHughJackman to join us at the TDF pic.twitter.com/9AcZ1i5SPN — ORICA-SCOTT (@OricaScott) July 5, 2017