Spaniard 3rd in Cap Fréhel finish, onto the podium to receive a jersey he won't wear after irregular manoeuvre in supersprint. Gutiérrez named Combative of the day after 2nd break Even though the stage was overshadowed by the disqualifying of Rojas at the intermediate sprint, which made him lose the green jersey he had picked up at the podium minutes before, Movistar Team made an impressive performance at the complicated 5th stage of the 2011 Tour de France. The 164-kilometer ride from Carhaix to Cap Fréhel became a race of nervousness, brakes and crashes, which the telephone squad could fortunately avoid. The blue team took Iván Gutiérrez again into the day's break, making the Spaniard take the Combative award of the day and step onto the podium of this year's Grande Boucle for the first time.

José Joaquín Rojas also took over the blocks, after claiming 5th of the bunch at the intermediate sprint and 3rd over the finish line, which allowed him keeping the green jersey. However, after the proper race, Rojas and Boonen were disqualified from the supersprint after an illegal manoeuvre, what made Rojas step down into 2nd at the points ranking, overtaken by Belgian Philippe Gilbert. Rojas made an overview of the day before being stripped off the jersey: “It was a really nervous day. As expected, there was so much wind, and that always takes some stress. Right from km 0, it was a race that took us a lot of stamina. At the finish I felt confident, had really good legs and was keeping Cavendish’s wheel when Petacchi took a strong blow on my side with over a kilometer to go. You can imagine what’s a hit like this like, at 60kph. I couldn’t almost breath, and that took my focus off and made the difference so I couldn’t keep that bit that avoided me beating Cavendish. Still we’re talking about one of the best sprinters in history, and hobnobbing with him is something to be proud of. I keep myself content with this and sensations I’m feeling. I keep showing people that the green jersey is something at my reach.”

In turn, Iván Gutiérrez was happy with his combativity prize, a fair reward to his two presences in the break of the day: “Eusebio Unzué did tell us today that it was a day to be calm, but I like to be in good position at the start, there was some speed, I got there and hadn’t anything to do but keeping myself on front. It was more comfortable than in the previous break, because wind was blowing on our tail for most of the stage and riding apart was more comfortable than doing it into the bunch, with all nervousness inside. Breaks are being formed rather easily and that’s how it’s supposed to be before the Massif Central, where escapes will have better chances to succeed. This is being a typical first week at the Tour, with stress, crashes, bad weather like yesterday’s which causes you muscular fatigue… That’s the Tour de France, there’s a difficulty where you don’t expect it. It’s a matter of letting days go by. It’s obvious that I won’t be there in the big mountains, so I have to keep trying for my chances in the other stages.”