Tyler Farrar Powers to Sprint Win in Stage 5 of Vuelta a Espana 2010
Tyler Farrar powers to stage 5 sprint win in the Tour of Spain 2010 for Team Garmin-Transitions; Omega Pharma-Lotto's Philippe Gilbert maintains overall 2010 Vuelta a Espana lead.
Tyler Farrar powers to stage 5 sprint win in the Tour of Spain 2010 for Team Garmin-Transitions; Omega Pharma-Lotto's Philippe Gilbert maintains overall 2010 Vuelta a Espana lead.
Tyler Farrar of the United States won the fifth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Wednesday, while Philippe Gilbert of Belgium maintained the overall lead. Watch Tyler Farrar win in our Roadcycling.com videos section showing video highlights from every stage of the 2010 Vuelta a Espana.
Farrar finished the 198.8 kilometer (123.5-mile) stage from Guadix to Lorca in 5 hours, 3 minutes, 36 seconds ahead of Koldo Fernandez of Spain and Mark Cavendish of Britain.
Italian pair Matteo Tosatto and Alessandro Petacchi also finished in the same time to round out the top-five of the mass group finish that did little to alter the overall leaderboard.
Farrar said he was surprised by the result himself after struggling to sleep the previous night because of illness, but said "adrenaline" had pushed him over the finish line.
Gilbert finished 29th in the same time to maintain his 10-second lead over Spanish pair Joaquin Rodriguez and Igor Anton. The Pharma-Lotto rider leads with an overall time of 19:00:06.
On a day of little surprises, one group of riders was forced to stop and wait for a train to pass before continuing in their chase of the peloton with around 15 kilometers to race.
The Vuelta also paid tribute to two-time Tour de France Champion Laurent Fignon, who died on Tuesday after a battle with cancer, with a moment of silence before the start of the race.
Thursday's sixth stage of the 65th edition of the Spanish classic is a 151-kilometer (93.2-mile) ride from Caravaca de la Cruz to Murcia that is unlikely to alter the leaderboard much.
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