Winding up for the final sprint of stage five, Swedish cyclist Magnus Bäckstedt went down in a large pile-up that included Chris Sutton and Julian Dean. Bäckstedt is out of the race with a broken right clavicle while Dean and Sutton finished with road rash and bumps.

Italian Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) celebrated his 27th birthday in style by winning the stage ahead of compatriot Alberto Loddo (Tinkoff). Tom Boonen finished third and retains the gold leader’s jersey.

Sutton remains second in the young rider classification and 4th overall.