Filippo Pozzato (Photo: capture-the-peloton.com)

AUTUN, Jul 12 (CP) - Italian Filippo Pozzato of Liquigas has won stage five in the Tour de France, beating Oscar Freire Gomez and Daniele Bennati in the sprint. Fabian Cancellara maintains his lead while Alexandre Vinokourov lost time.

After a series of flat stages, the fifth stage included no less than eight categorized climbs: Four of the fourth, three of the third and even one of the second category.

Not long after the start of the 182km stage from Chablis to Autun, An attack occured with Sylvain Chavanel, William Bonnet and Philippe Gilbert.

Chavanel was there to earn some more points in the mountains classification and it did not take long for the Frenchman to conquer the virtual lead at the expense of Cofidis teammate Stéphane Augé.

At about 135 kilometers from the finish, the three leaders had an advantage of well more than twelve minutes.

The three were joined by Barloworld rider Giampaolo Cheula, who had successfully chased the front group during many kilometers.

But on the second-category Haut-Folin, Chavanel and Gilbert dropped their fellow escapees in an attempt to stay ahead of the peloton, which steadily began to close in.

Meanwhile in the pack, one of the favorites for this Tour, Andreas Klöden suffered a crash. The German seemed troubled but got back on his bike.

The crash was not the day's first. Earlier, Australian Brett Lancaster abandoned after a crash, and Erik Zabel will now have to do with one helper less.

After Klöden, disaster struck again for the Astana team as captain and the biggest favorite of all, Alexandre Vinokourov, crashed together with teammate Antonio Colóm Mas.

Another five helpers dropped from the peloton to try and help Vinokourov back to the pack.

With fifteen kilometers left, the two leaders Chavanel and Gilbert had their lead reduced to just forty seconds.

On the third-category Croix de la Libération, just before the finish, the leaders were indeed reeled in and David de la Fuente Rasilla was next to try his luck.

The Spaniard of Saunier Duval did not get far though, due to the hard work of Rabobank at the front of the peloton.

A large group eventually remained and went down to the finish. During that descent, Yaroslav Popovych and Yellow Jersey holder Cancellara missed a curve but did not actually crash.

In the group sprint, it was Liquigas rider Filippo Pozzato to take the victory, a few centimeters ahead of Oscar Freire and Daniele Bennati.

Erik Zabel takes the lead in the points classification and will be wearing the Green Jersey tomorrow.

Vinokourov eventually lost 1'20" in respect to the peloton and will need to attack early on in the mountains in order to try and find his way back to the top.

Stage results:

1. Filippo Pozzato (Ita-LIQ) 4h39'01"
2. Oscar Freire Gomez (Esp-RAB) s.t.
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita-LAM) s.t.
4. Kim Kirchen (Lux-TMO) s.t.
5. Erik Zabel (Ger-MRM) s.t.
6. George Hincapie (USA-DSC) s.t.
7. Cristian Moreni (Ita-COF) s.t.
8. Stefan Schumacher (Ger-GST) s.t.
9. Bram Tankink (Ned-QSI) s.t.
10. Jérôme Pineau (Fra-BTL) s.t.

General classification:

1. Fabian Cancellara (Sui-CSC) 23h28'56"
2. Andreas Klöden (Ger-AST) 0'33"
3. Filippo Pozzato (Ita-LIQ) 0'35"
4. David Millar (GBr-SDV) 0'41"
5. George Hincapie (USA-DSC) 0'43"
6. Vladimir Gusev (Rus-DSC) 0'45"
7. Vladimir Karpets (Rus-GCE) 0'46"
8. Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Esp-EUS) 0'49"
9. Thomas Dekker (Ned-RAB) 0'51"
10. Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra-FDJ) 0'52"

Points classification:

1. Erik Zabel (Ger-MRM) 102pts
2. Tom Boonen (Bel-QSI) 98
3. Robbie McEwen (Aus-PRL) 84
4. Oscar Freire Gomez (Esp-RAB) 84
5. Robert Hunter (RSA-BAR) 83

Mountains classification:

1. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra-COF) 37pts
2. Philippe Gilbert (Bel-FDJ) 23
3. William Bonnet (Fra-C.A) 15
4. Giampaolo Cheula (Ita-BAR) 10
5. Stéphane Augé (Fra-COF) 9

Young riders classification:

1. Vladimir Gusev (Rus-DSC) 23h29'41"
2. Thomas Dekker (Ned-RAB) 0'06"
3. Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra-FDJ) 0'07"
4. Alberto Contador Velasco (Esp-DSC) 0'10"
5. Linus Gerdemann (Ger-TMO) 0'13"

Teams classification:

1. Team CSC (Den) 73h29'08"
2. Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team (USA) 0'03"
3. Caisse d'Epargne (Esp) 0'16"
4. T-Mobile Team (Ger) 0'43"
5. Rabobank (Ned) 0'45"

Results by Jeroen Michiels

© Jonathan Roorda