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15 years ago to the day, the 1997 Tour de France Grand Depart took place in Rouen as a tribute to "France's favorite son", Jacques Anquetil. From July 5 1997, here are five time winners of the Tour de France Frenchman Bernard Hinault (L), Belgian Eddy Merckx (C) and Miguel Indurain of Spain paying hommage at the grave side of Tour de France hero Jacques Anquetil who also won the coverted title on five occasions.
July 4 update: Stage 5 continues where we left off at the finish of Stage 4 with a tribute to France's and Rouen's favorite son, Jacques Anquetil. We'll then head northeast through the rolling, green countryside of the Picardy province of northern France on our way to Saint-Quentin. There are no categorized climbs along the way.
Six years ago (photo above), Robbie McEwen easily won (report) the flat, straight, Stage 4 Tour de France sprint finish in Saint-Quentin but this year's finish in Saint-Quentin will be slightly uphill (2.8%) for the final km. The slight uphill finish may level the playing field, so to speak, for Peter Sagan as the 22 year-old versatile phenom will take on pure sprinters André Greipel and Mark Cavendish for what should be the third sprint finish of this year's Tour. — Steve