A little late with this one, but I've only just watched the stage from the digibox. What a finish! AG2R lead out strongly at the end, setting a brisk pace, but the real climax came 2km from the end. The road took a hard turn and went under a railway bridge, the road also narrowed markedly. There followed a short but steep climb - and Peter Sagan broke away for a huge lead in no time at all.
With a kilometre to go it looked like he may have gone too soon, and that he'd be reeled back in, but he maintained his lead for the stage win. It was a supreme effort.
Now I've got stage 6 to watch!
| Position | Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Astana | 20:41:40 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:00:20 |
| 3 | Roman Kreuziger | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:00:25 |
| 4 | Luis-Leon Sanchez | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:00:26 |
| 5 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:00:29 |
| 6 | Jens Voigt | Team Saxo Bank | 0:00:34 |
| 7 | Joaquim Rodriguez | Team Katusha | 0:00:36 |
| 8 | Peter Sagan | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:00:42 |
| 9 | David Millar | Garmin - Transitions | 0:01:02 |
| 10 | Reine Taaramae | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:01:06 |
| 11 | Jean-Christophe Peraud | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:01:15 |
| 12 | Jérôme Coppel | Saur - Sojasun | 0:01:16 |
| 13 | Nicolas Roche | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:01:22 |
| 14 | Sylvain Chavanel | Quick Step | 0:01:27 |
| 15 | Simon Gerrans | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:01:30 |
| 16 | Christophe Le Mevel | Française des Jeux | 0:01:32 |
| 17 | Janez Brajkovic | Team RadioShack | 0:01:56 |
| 18 | Christophe Riblon | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:01:58 |
| 19 | Maxime Bouet | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:02:02 |
| 20 | Frank Schleck | Team Saxo Bank | 0:02:05 |
| 21 | Sébastien Minard | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:02:22 |
| 22 | Cyril Gautier | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:02:30 |
| 23 | Kevin Seeldrayers | Quick Step | 0:02:59 |
| 24 | Leonardo Duque | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:03:18 |
| 25 | Ivan Santaromita | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:03:19 |
| 26 | Francis De Greef | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:03:22 |
| 27 | Thomas Voeckler | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:03:39 |
| 28 | Xavier Tondo | Cervélo Test Team | 0:03:48 |
| 29 | Eduard Vorganov | Team Katusha | 0:03:52 |
| 30 | Levi Leipheimer | Team RadioShack | 0:03:57 |
| 31 | Sandy Casar | Française des Jeux | 0:04:03 |
| 32 | Aliaksandr Kuchynski | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:04:07 |
| 33 | Dmitriy Fofonov | Astana | 0:04:12 |
| 34 | Cyril Dessel | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:04:20 |
| 35 | Volodymir Gustov | Cervélo Test Team | 0:04:21 |
| 36 | Rémi Pauriol | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:04:28 |
| 37 | Maxime Monfort | Team HTC - Columbia | 0:04:35 |
| 38 | David Lopez Garcia | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:04:47 |
| 39 | Daniele Righi | Lampre - Farnese Vini | 0:04:51 |
| 40 | Mickael Cherel | Française des Jeux | 0:04:58 |
| 41 | Thierry Hupond | Skil - Shimano | 0:05:10 |
| 42 | Bram Tankink | Rabobank | 0:05:42 |
| 43 | Yury Trofimov | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:05:46 |
| 44 | Julien Loubet | AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 45 | Julien El Fares | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:05:52 |
| 46 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:05:54 |
| 47 | Simon Geschke | Skil - Shimano | 0:05:56 |
| 48 | Andriy Grivko | Astana | 0:05:57 |
| 49 | Alexandre Botcharov | Team Katusha | 0:06:02 |
| 50 | Matthieu Ladagnous | Française des Jeux | 0:06:40 |
| 51 | Xavier Florencio | Cervélo Test Team | 0:06:43 |
| 52 | Geoffroy Lequatre | Team RadioShack | 0:06:58 |
| 53 | Jérôme Pineau | Quick Step | 0:07:29 |
| 54 | Kevin De Weert | Quick Step | 0:07:45 |
| 55 | Alexandr Kolobnev | Team Katusha | 0:07:54 |
| 56 | Egoi Martinez | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:07:57 |
| 57 | Rémy Di Gregorio | Française des Jeux | 0:08:00 |
| 58 | Tom Danielson | Garmin - Transitions | 0:08:11 |
| 59 | Carlos Barredo | Quick Step | 0:08:13 |
| 60 | Alexandre Pichot | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:08:23 |
| 61 | Daniel Martin | Garmin - Transitions | 0:08:24 |
| 62 | Evgeni Petrov | Team Katusha | 0:08:27 |
| 63 | Joan Horrach | Team Katusha | 0:08:33 |
| 64 | Tiago Machado | Team RadioShack | 0:08:45 |
| 65 | Mirco Lorenzetto | Lampre - Farnese Vini | 0:08:51 |
| 66 | Gorka Verdugo | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:08:52 |
| 67 | Juan Jose Cobo Acebo | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:09:14 |
| 68 | Laurent Didier | Team Saxo Bank | 0:09:20 |
| 69 | Luis Pasamontes | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:10:55 |
| 70 | Frederik Willems | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:11:06 |
| 71 | Chris Sorensen | Team Saxo Bank | 0:11:37 |
| 72 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre - Farnese Vini | 0:11:39 |
| 73 | Lars Boom | Rabobank | 0:11:41 |
| 74 | Koldo Fernandez | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:11:58 |
| 75 | Dimitri Champion | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:12:08 |
| 76 | Dario David Cioni | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:12:18 |
| 77 | Ivan Velasco | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:12:52 |
| 78 | Cyril Lemoine | Saur - Sojasun | 0:13:11 |
| 79 | Benat Intxausti | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:13:18 |
| 80 | William Bonnet | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:13:23 |
| 81 | Wesley Sulzberger | Française des Jeux | 0:13:41 |
| 82 | Jimmy Engoulvent | Saur - Sojasun | 0:13:57 |
| 83 | David Loosli | Lampre - Farnese Vini | 0:13:59 |
| 84 | Daniel Navarro | Astana | 0:15:12 |
| 85 | Brice Feillu | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:15:36 |
| 86 | Matthew Harley Goss | Team HTC - Columbia | 0:16:00 |
| 87 | Christian Meier | Garmin - Transitions | 0:16:16 |
| 88 | Pierre Rolland | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:16:28 |
| 89 | Sylvain Calzati | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:16:31 |
| 90 | Christian Vande Velde | Garmin - Transitions | 0:16:35 |
| 91 | Koos Moerenhout | Rabobank | 0:16:58 |
| 92 | Albert Timmer | Skil - Shimano | 0:17:06 |
| 93 | Sébastien Rosseler | Team RadioShack | 0:18:13 |
| 94 | Romain Sicard | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:18:33 |
| 95 | Christopher Horner | Team RadioShack | 0:18:38 |
| 96 | Johnny Hoogerland | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:19:15 |
| 97 | Thomas Peterson | Garmin - Transitions | 0:20:05 |
| 98 | Samuel Dumoulin | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:20:34 |
| 99 | Tony Martin | Team HTC - Columbia | 0:21:03 |
| 100 | Matteo Bono | Lampre - Farnese Vini | 0:21:18 |
| 101 | Craig Lewis | Team HTC - Columbia | 0:21:34 |
| 102 | Mathieu Perget | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:21:49 |
| 103 | Serguei Ivanov | Team Katusha | 0:22:08 |
| 104 | Yannick Talabardon | Saur - Sojasun | 0:22:19 |
| 105 | Laurent Mangel | Saur - Sojasun | 0:22:38 |
| 106 | Pierrick Fedrigo | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:22:52 |
| 107 | José Ivan Gutierrez | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:22:55 |
| 108 | Mickaël Delage | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:24:10 |
| 109 | David Le Lay | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:25:16 |
| 110 | Gregory Henderson | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:25:18 |
| 111 | Amaël Moinard | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:25:20 |
| 112 | Jeremy Galland | Saur - Sojasun | 0:26:12 |
| 113 | Jürgen Roelandts | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:27:07 |
| 114 | Koen De Kort | Skil - Shimano | 0:27:08 |
| 115 | Daniel Lloyd | Cervélo Test Team | 0:27:17 |
| 116 | Sébastien Turgot | Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:27:19 |
| 117 | Geraint Thomas | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:27:50 |
| 118 | Joost Posthuma | Rabobank | 0:28:51 |
| 119 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:29:11 |
| 120 | Philippe Gilbert | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:29:57 |
| 121 | Stephen Cummings | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:30:08 |
| 122 | Dominique Rollin | Cervélo Test Team | 0:30:35 |
| 123 | André Greipel | Team HTC - Columbia | 0:30:44 |
| 124 | Gustav Larsson | Team Saxo Bank | 0:30:45 |
| 125 | Yaroslav Popovych | Team RadioShack | 0:30:56 |
| 126 | Adam Hansen | Team HTC - Columbia | 0:30:59 |
| 127 | Tadej Valjavec | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:31:15 |
| 128 | Nicolas Maes | Quick Step | 0:31:25 |
| 129 | Alberto Ongarato | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:31:41 |
| 130 | Romain Feillu | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:31:47 |
| 131 | Juan Jose Haedo | Team Saxo Bank | 0:31:48 |
| 132 | Alexandre Geniez | Skil - Shimano | 0:31:49 |
| 133 | Tom Leezer | Rabobank | 0:32:00 |
| 134 | Gorazd Stangelj | Astana | 0:32:38 |
| 135 | Ted King | Cervélo Test Team | 0:33:05 |
| 136 | Svein Tuft | Garmin - Transitions | 0:33:36 |
| 137 | Mikel Nieve | Euskatltel - Euskadi | 0:34:04 |
| 138 | Mauro Finetto | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:34:20 |
| 139 | Stéphane Auge | Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne | 0:35:24 |
| 140 | Jos Van Emden | Rabobank | 0:35:31 |
| 141 | Anthony Geslin | Française des Jeux | 0:35:34 |
| 142 | Yann Huguet | Skil - Shimano | 0:36:52 |
| 143 | Jean Marc Marino | Saur - Sojasun | 0:37:24 |
| 144 | Bjorn Leukemans | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:37:27 |
| 145 | Alessandro Spezialetti | Lampre - Farnese Vini | 0:37:41 |
| 146 | Maxim Gourov | Astana | 0:38:10 |
| 147 | Arnaud Gerard | Française des Jeux | 0:38:18 |
| 148 | Benjamin Noval Gonzalez | Astana | 0:38:59 |
| 149 | Jurgen Van Goolen | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 0:39:05 |
| 150 | Oscar Pereiro Sio | Astana | 0:39:10 |
| 151 | Brian Vandborg | Liquigas - Doimo | 0:39:44 |
| 152 | Tom Veelers | Skil - Shimano | 0:40:30 |
| 153 | Vicente Garcia Acosta | Caisse d'Epargne | 0:40:57 |
| 154 | Jakob Fuglsang | Team Saxo Bank | 0:41:54 |
| 155 | Jimmy Casper | Saur - Sojasun | 0:43:35 |
| 156 | Wouter Weylandt | Quick Step | 0:47:18 |
| 157 | Rick Flens | Rabobank | 0:47:39 |
| 158 | Richie Porte | Team Saxo Bank | 0:49:11 |
| 159 | Jens Mouris | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | 0:52:04 |
| 160 | Kjell Carlström | Sky Professional Cycling Team | 0:56:09 |
| 161 | Roy Curvers | Skil - Shimano | 0:56:29 |
| Table Built: Friday, 12 March 2010 18:34 UK | |||