Tour to remember World War I dead

A sombre day is expected during the fifth stage of the Tour de France from Arras to Amiens on Wednesday as respects will be paid to soldiers who died during the First World War.

The 189.5km run takes the peloton through several battlegrounds, including the Somme, and past numerous cemetaries.

It was specifically designed to commemorate the war dead, particularly those from Commonwealth countries, during the centenary events organised to remember World War I.

Commemoration events began at 7.45am local time (0545 GMT) with the inauguration of a metal blue cornflower at Mont Saint-Eloi to mark the spot where 1909 Tour de France winner Francois Faber died.

That was followed by a commemoration ceremony at the British cemetary of Faubourg d'Amiens in the fifth stage's departure town Arras at 10.00am (0800 GMT).

It was to mark the cyclists who died as soldiers during the Great War and was attended by New Zealand's Ambassador to France James Kember, as well as France's Centenary Mission general manager Joseph Zimet and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.

Some teams also planned to pay their respects with Australians Orica Green-Edge wearing special commemorative armbands during the stage.

"When the route was announced for the 2015 Tour de France we knew stage five was going to be of huge historical importance to us as an Australian team," Orica general manager Shayne Bannan said.

The race itself could be in for a calmer day after four hectic stages of racing, despite predictions of rain at various points along the course.

German Tony Martin will start in the race leader's yellow jersey, which has changed hands every day on the Tour so far.

The 30-year-old took a daring solo victory on Tuesday to wrench the jersey out of 2013 champion Chris Froome's grasp.

Wednesday's stage is tailor-made for a bunch sprint finish with the likes of Martin's Etixx-Quick Step teammate Mark Cavendish among the favourites for victory.

Cavendish has 25 Tour stage wins and stands joint third on the all-time list alongside Andre Leducq of France, with only five-time Tour winners Eddy Merckx of Belgium (34) and France's Bernard Hinault (28) out ahead.

The hosts will hope to get their first stage win in this year's race in the form of Nacer Bouhanni, for whom the finish is ideal.

But the likes of green points jersey wearer Andre Greipel, Slovakia's Peter Sagan and German John Degenkolb will also expect to get in the mix.

A breakaway is expected to animate the day's racing, although it's highly unlikely the sprinter's teams will allow them any hope of reaching the line ahead of the pack.

The only possibility to break up the mass bunch sprint is if high winds cause a split in the peloton at some point along the course.

Froome is second overall at 12sec from Martin with Tejay Van Garderen third at 25sec.

Froome's main rivals for overall victory have some ground to make up with Alberto Contador 36sec behind the Brit, reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali at 1min 38sec and Nairo Quintana almost two minutes back.
Source: AFP