FIVE-SECOND GAP WON’T DERAIL DAVE

TEAM INEOS godfather Sir Dave Brailsford is refusing to let five seconds of summer tear his Tour de France strategy apart.

After defending champion Geraint Thomas (above) shipped five seconds to team-mate Egan Bernal in Champagne country on Monday, creating a potential dilemma of leadership, Brailsford told the critics to put a cork in it.

Twelve months ago, when Ineos rode under Team Sky’s banner, No.1 bib Chris Froome’s crash in the opening stage allowed Thomas to steal a march – and he never surrendered his lead.

But Brailsford (below) is adamant Bernal’s slender advantage will not create any tension on the bus.

Thomas and Bernal rolled home safely, with the same time, after a 132-mile trek from Reims to Nancy in stage four, but Brailsford was still bristling about Monday’s kink on the stopwatch in Epernay.

He said: “It wasn’t ta a five-second gap though, was it?

“If anyone understands the sport, if you watch the sport, there is a 30-metre gap. ‘G’ sat t up a little bit, he thought people were trying to come over him and that is it.

“People are trying to make out that it’s a five-second gap and it is not.”

When it was pointed out to Brailsford that there is a five-second gap between Thomas and Bernal on the general classification, he said: “Or you can watch the race and interpret from the race. It was pretty simple to understand what happened.”

Asked if Team Ineos would have to alter their strategy – even a slight tweak – the team principal was adamant: “One hundred per cent no. Nothing has changed.”

Thomas is more relaxed about the gap, and said: “No one wins the Tour on five-second sprint finishes but obviously it would have been better not to have lost that time. Obviously, five seconds... it’s not nice to lose that. If I miss the podium by four, I might be more disappointed.”

Italy’s Elia Viviani sprinted to his first Tour de France stage win here, as his Deceuninck-quickstep team-mate Julian Alaphilippe retained the leader’s Yellow Jersey.

Today’s stage five from Saint Die des Vosges to Colmar is a bumpy 109-mile ride featuring four categorised climbs – but a flat finish.