Tour de Pologne: Thor Hushovd wins stage five as Spain's Ion Izagirre takes overall lead

Thor Hushovd claimed a comfortable victory

Hushovd made light work of a slightly uphill finish to beat Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ) into second and Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) into third and hand BMC their third consecutive win.

Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) moved to the top of the general classification after picking up ten bonus seconds for finishing third in the day's "attractivity classification", which combines mountain and sprint points, and now leads Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) by one second with two stages remaining.

Stage five had taken the riders on a tough, 160km route from Nowi Targ to Zakopane containing six categorised climbs.

Wiggins reels break in

Seven men broke away from the peloton early and opened up a maximum gap of over four minutes, but the undulating parcours took its toll and they were all swallowed back up with 25km remaining.

That opened the door for another escape, and stage two winner Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) was one of six riders who formed a new, high-pedigree breakaway with 19km remaining.

They held a lead of 20 seconds going into the final 10km, but then Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) moved to the front of the main bunch and delivered a huge turn to all but bring them back.

They were eventually caught 5km out, triggering a frenzied finale in which a multitude of climbers took turns to attack out of a splintered peloton in solo bids for glory on the inclined finish.

Hushovd too strong

All of them fell short, though, and when Hushovd moved to the front of the race with 2km to go, it appeared there would only be one winner.

Rigoberto Uran tried to lead out Team Sky team-mate and fellow Colombian Sergio Henao, but the duo went too early and Hushovd, who was sheltering in Henao's slipstream, had little trouble in overtaking him and going on to win by several bike lengths.

Back down the road, Wiggins ambled to the finish after his stint on the front of the bunch and eventually crossed the line 5min 40sec behind.

Stage five result

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC, 3:54:40
2 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ, same time
3 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Cannondale, st
4 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Argos-Shimano, st
5 David Tanner (Aus) Belkin, st
6 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, st
7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
8 Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st
9 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Argos-Shimano, st
10 Georg Preidler (Aut) Argos-Shimano, st
Selected other
79 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, +5:40

General classification

1 Jon Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi, 25:49:41
2 Rafal Majka (Pol) Saxo-Tinkoff, +1sec
3 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +5
4 Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +7
5 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEDGE, +8
6 Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Saxo-Tinkoff, +10
7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +14
8 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar, +14
9 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack-Leopard, +17
10 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack-Leopard, +19
Selected other
51 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, +29:24