Sprinters Shine In Stage 5 Of The Tour

Stage 5 of the Tour de France turned out as expected. It was another day for the sprinters. As usual there was a breakaway that lasted nearly the length of the race, but about 4 kilometers from the finish line the peloton gobbled them up. Then it was up to the individual teams to set their sprinter up for a chance to win.

The strongest team today seemed to be HTC-Columbia. They were the team that took the most responsibility to run down the breakaway and then they set their own sprinter perfectly for a stage win. And the HTC-Columbia sprinter, Mark Cavendish of Great Britain (pictured), made the best of his team's effort by sprinting to a stage win. Cavendish had not been having a great Tour but this puts him back in the race for the Green Jersey.

Gerald Ciolek, Germany (Milram) finished in second place and Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norway (Sky Pro) took his bike to a third place finish for the second day in a row. Thor Hushovd, Norway (Cervelo) finished in a very respectable fifth place which allows him to keep wearing the Green Jersey as the leader in sprint points. Since the peloton finished as a group today there was no change in the overall standings.

The riders are only a couple of days away from the first difficult mountain stage now and tomorrow's stage 6 shows they are nearing the Alps. It is a 227.5 kilometer ride from Montargis to Gueugnon. The stage has four category 4 climbs and two of them come near the end of the race. Will it be a good day for some breakaway climbers or another day for the sprinters? It could go either way and that's what makes this a very interesting stage.

Here are the current standings:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Leaders)

1. Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland (Saxo Bank)

2. Geraint Thomas, Great Britain (Sky Pro).....0' 23"

3. Cadel Evans, Australia (BMC Racing).....0' 39"

4. Ryder Hesjedal, Canada (Garmin-Transitions).....0' 46"

5. Sylvain Chavanel, France (Quick Step).....1' 01"

6. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Saxo Bank).....1' 09"

7. Thor Hushovd, Norway (Cervelo).....1' 19"

8. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan (Astana).....1' 31"

9. Alberto Contador, Spain (Astana).....1' 40"

10. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium (Omega Pharma-Lotto).....1' 42"

11. Nicolas Roche, Ireland (AG2R La Mondiale).....1' 42"

18. Lance Armstrong, USA (Radio Shack).....2' 30"

GREEN JERSEY (Sprinters)

1. Thor Hushovd, Norway (Cervelo).....102 pts

2. Alessandro Petacchi, Italy (Lampre-Farnese).....88 pts

3. Robbie McEwen, Australia (Katusha).....81 pts

4. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Spain (Caisse D'Epargne).....73 pts

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norway (Sky Pro).....64 pts

6. Geraint Thomas, Great Britain (Sky Pro).....59 pts

7. Sebastien Turgot, France (Bouygues Telecom).....59 pts

8. Daniel Oss, Italy (Liquigas-Doimo).....54 pts

9. Mark Cavendish, Great Britain (HTC-Columbia).....50 pts

10. Gerald Ciolek, Germany (Milram).....49 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Climbers)

1. Jerome Pineau, France (Quick Step).....13 pts

2. Sylvain Chavanel, France (Quick Step).....8 pts

3. Rin Taaramae, Estonia (Cofidis).....8 pts

4. Jurgen Van De Walle, Belgium (Quick Step).....6 pts

5. Maxime Montfort, Belgium (HTC-Columbia).....5 pts

6. Jose Ivan Gutierrez, Spain (Caisse D'Epargne).....4 pts

7. Matthew Lloyd, Australia (Omega Pharma-Lotto).....4 pts

8. Ryder Hesjedal, Canada (Garmin-Transitions).....3 pts

9. Iban Mayoz, Spain (Footon-Servetto).....3 pts

10. Jurgen Roelandts, Belgium (Omega Pharma-Lotto).....3 pts

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Saxo Bank

2. Garmin-Transitions.......0' 11"

3. Sky Pro.......0' 25"

4. Astana.......2' 21"

5. BMC Racing.......2' 50"

6. Cervelo.......3' 22"

7. Rabobank.......3' 37"

8. Omega Pharma-Lotto.......3' 40"

9. AG2R La Mondiale.......3' 49"

10. Caisse D'Epargne.......3' 55"

11. Radio Shack.......4' 28"

12. HTC-Columbia.......4' 29"