Belgian standout Philippe Gilbert of Team Omega Pharma-Lotto won the hilly stage 5 of the weeklong 2011 Tirreno-Adriatico race today and Team BMC Racing's former World Champion Cadel Evans of Australia took the overall lead.

Gilbert covered the 240-kilometer (149-mile) stage from Chieti to Castelraimondo in 6 hours, 43 minutes, 23 seconds, beating Wouter Poels of the Netherlands and Damiano Cunego of Italy in a sprint.

Gilbert is a specialist in lengthy single-day races, having won the Giro di Lombardia the past two seasons, as well as Paris-Tours twice.

With the finish line in sight, Evans was part of a small group that swept up the remounts of a breakaway that at one point held as much as an 11-minute lead.

"I really don't think on a finish like that I'm going to be able to beat Gilbert," Evans told Roadcycling.com and our site for mobile phone-based access to cycling news Roadcycling.mobi "But I got caught back in traffic and couldn't get anywhere in the finish, which is a bit disappointing. But for the GC, it was reasonably successful."

Evans took a two-second lead over last year's Giro winner Ivan Basso, while Cunego is now three seconds back in third, with previous leader Robert Gesink trailing by five seconds in fifth.

Evans said he'll continue to depend on teamwork like he did on the Sasso Tetto - the major climb in today's stage five. "Lampre rode a good tempo and then actually George (Hincapie) nearly rode the entire second half of the climb," Evans commented and concluded "He's riding really well. There were a few people close on GC that we were always preferring to eliminate, so that was a good move by George."

Former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca rode with the leaders for the second straight day, crossing fourth, to show he's back in form after his doping ban was shortened for collaborating with prosecutors.

"Today's performance confirms how I'm progressing," Di Luca commented and added "Tomorrow there's another stage suited to my characteristics and I want to continue being a protagonist."

Stage six on Monday is a 182-kilometer (114-mile) leg from Ussita to Macerata.

The coast-to-coast race ends this coming Tuesday with 9.3-kilometer (5.8-mile) individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy.

Watch video highlights from the 2011 Tirreno-Adriatico in the videos section here on Roadcycling.com after each day's stage.

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