Vuelta Stage 5: Tyler Farrar snatches victory from Cav at the death

Mark Cavendish is still waiting for the Vuelta stage win that will complete his hat-trick of stage victories in cycling's three Grand Tours after Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Transitions came out of the Manxman's slipstream to overhaul him on the line in Lorca after a long day that saw the peloton spend a shade over five hours in the saddle.

The HTC-Columbia rider seemed to be nowhere near the front of the race as the peloton swept round the final right hander for the final approach to the line, but suddenly appeared through the mass of riders on the barriers and looked poised to take the win.

However, with a few hundred metres left, it turned out that he had made his move too early as the American, who revealed afterwards that he had been ill all day yesterday and overnight, overhauled him at the line.

Koldo Fernandez of Euskaltel-Euskadi also finished strongly, passing Cavendish just short of the line, and the British rider had to settle for third place. Philippe Albert of Omega Pharma-Lotto remains in the race leader's red jersey, which Cavendish had worn on Stages 2 and 3 after his HTC-Columbia team won Saturday evening's team time trial in Seville.

With a steady, fast descent in prospect over the closing 60km or so, this stage always seemed destined to end with a sprint finish, and so it proved as the peloton kept a watchful gaze on today’s four man break, comprising the French riders Arnaud Labbe of Cofidis and Pierre Rolland of Bbox Bouygues Telecom plus the Spanish pair of Jose Vincente Toribio Alcolea from Andalucia-Cajasur and Footon-Servetto’s David Gutierrez.

The escapees were eventually swept up some 13km from the finish of the 199km stage as the leading sprinters’ teams upped the pace to get to the front and keep their men out of trouble ahead of the finale.

Prior to the start of today’s stage, the peloton observed a minute’s silence for Laurent Fignon who died yesterday. The two-time Tour de France winner will be buried on Friday at the Père Lachaise cemetery in his native Paris, the final resting place of the likes of Doors singer Jim Morrison and the writer Oscar Wilde.

Vuelta Stage 5 result

1 FARRAR, Tyler            Garmin-Transitions  5h 03' 36"
2 FERNÁNDEZ, Koldo         Euskaltel-Euskadi (all same time)
3 CAVENDISH, Mark          HTC-Columbia
4 TOSATTO, Matteo          Quickstep
5 PETACCHI, Alessandro     Lampre-Farnese Vini
6 CHAVANEL, Sébastien      Francaise des Jeux
7 FÖRSTER, Robert          Milram
8 GALIMZYANOV, Denis       Katusha
9 BOS, Theo                Cervelo TestTeam
10 VAN AVERMAET, Greg      Omega Pharma-Lotto
11 FREIRE, Óscar           Rabobank
12 HUTAROVICH, Yauheni     Francaise des Jeux
13 ORTEGA, Manuel          Andalusia-Cajasur
14 BONNET, William         Bbox Bouygues Telecom
15 BENNATI, Daniele        Liquigas-Doimo
16 RABUÑAL, Gonzalo        Xacobeo-Galicia
17 FRÖHLINGER, Johannes    Milram
18 CARDOSO,Manuel          Footon-Servetto
19 KASHECHKIN, Andrey      Lampre-Farnese Vini
20 HINAULT, Sébastien      AG2R-La Mondiale

Vuelta overall standings after Stage 5

1 GILBERT, Philippe        Omega Pharma-Lotto 19h 00' 06"
2 ANTON, Igor              Euskaltel-Euskadi        + 10"
3 RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin       Katusha                  + 10"
4 NIBALI, Vincenzo         Liquigas-Doimo           + 12"
5 VELITS, Peter            HTC-Columbia             + 16"
6 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay      HTC-Columbia             + 29"
7 TONDO, Xavier            Cervelo TestTeam         + 49"
8 SCHLECK, Frank Team      Saxo Bank                + 50"
9 PLAZA, Ruben             Caisse d'Epargne         + 54"
10 MOSQUERA, Ezequiel      Xacobeo-Galicia          + 55"
11 ROCHE, Nicholas         AG2R La Mondiale         + 58"
12 BRUSEGHIN, Marzio       Caisse d'Epargne      + 1' 01"
13 MENCHOV, Denis          Rabobank              + 1' 11"
14 URAN, Rigoberto         Caisse d'Epargne      + 1' 19"
15 DANIELSON, Thomas       Garmin-Transitions    + 1' 21"
16 SÁNCHEZ, Luis León      Caisse d'Epargne      + 1' 24"
17 KARPETS, Vladimir       Katusha               + 1' 24"
18 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe Omega Pharma-Lotto	 + 1' 33"
19 TEN DAM, Laurens	   Rabobank	         + 2' 08"
20 NIEVE, Mikel	           Euskaltel-Euskadi	 + 2' 14''