France: Dutch rider Lars Boom won the brutal fifth stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday as British defending champion Chris Froome pulled out of the race after crashing twice.


Lars Boom 

Boom rode away from his rivals after 152.5km from Ypres in Belgium to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut that included 13km of cobblestones over seven different sections.

But the big winner of the day was yellow jersey holder Vincenzo Nibali of Italy who came home in third and gained significant time on all his overall rivals.