The fifth stage of the Tour de France was a short, nervous affair with numerous crashes between Carhaix and Cap Fréhel. Leopard Trek managed to mostly avoid the trouble that riders attributed to narrow roads, cross wind and anxiety during the first week of racing. The Schleck brothers finished in the front group that saw Mark Cavendish sprint to victory and Thor Hushovd retain the yellow leader’s jersey for another day.

RadioShack lost one of its four team leaders when Jani Brajkovic crashed shortly after the intermediate sprint. Tom Boonen (QuickStep) did serious damage to his right shoulder but managed to make it to the line before the time cut. Alberto Contador (Saxobank Sungard), Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Nicki Sorensen (Saxobank Sungard) all arrived to the finish battered from falls.

The stage began calmly enough with four riders given the nod to spend their day in a break. The quartet would gain a maximum advantage of six minutes. The gap quickly plummetted mid-stage as the peloton picked up the pace in a failed effort to avoid the crashes that had become common occurrences behind.

“In our case, we had to do a lot of work to protect our captains Andy [Schleck] and Fränk [Schleck],” said Voigt. “Each of them has what you might call a personal assistant. Stuart [O’Grady] looks after Andy and Fabian [Cancellara] attends to Fränk. The system works well, but it doesn’t make a day like this any less stressful.”

With 46 kilometers left to race, the field swept up the break. Shortly thereafter, the race hit the exposed coastal road. The pace rocketed in response to the tail/sidewind.

Jeremy Roy (FDJ) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) jumped from the pack and quickly took forty seconds on the Garmin Cervélo-led bunch. As the speed continued to increase, Cancellara took over at the front of the field to monitor the state of affairs.

Three kilometers from the finish, with the catch imminent, Roy sat up to rejoin the field. Voeckler put in one last dig to hold off the peloton for an additional kilometer. It was gruppo compatto two kilometers from the line.

The Manx missile overcame poor positioning to take the stage win ahead Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar). Despite all the crahses, the mass finish ensured that the general classification remains relatively unchanged. Fränk holds onto third overall four seconds behind race leader Hushovd while Andy and Jakob Fuglsang sit 12 seconds back in ninth and tenth.

Stage six takes the peloton from Dinan to Lisieux for the Tour’s longest stage. The rolling roads wind their way towards a step, short rise in Lisieux slightly more than a kilometer before the finish. The rise may spoil the fun for the sprinters as any gaps gained here could be held to the finish.