Tour of Britain: Matthias Brandle wins stage five solo as Michal Kwiatkowski retains lead

Matthias Brandle launched his winning attack on the day's final climb

Breakaway rider Matthias Brandle claimed a solo victory on stage five of the Tour of Britain in Exeter as Michal Kwiatkowski retained his overall lead and Sir Bradley Wiggins stayed sixth.

Brandle formed part of the day’s four-man escape group but then surged clear on his own on the final climb of the day and hung on to beat second-placed Shane Archbold and third-placed Maarten Wynants by eight seconds.

Kwiatkowski followed in the peloton six seconds later in seventh place to consolidate his three-second lead of the general classification over Edoardo Zardini, with Dylan Teuns remaining 14 seconds off the pace in third and Wiggins still 27 seconds adrift.

Team Sky's Ben Swift was the highest British finisher on the day, crossing the line in fifth position.

Brandle said afterwards: “It was a really hard stage but I had good guys in the breakaway with me. We are all winners because we worked together and chased against the peloton and we won the fight. It was a hard fight but I was strongest on the final climb. I was lucky I had good legs. It is the biggest victory in my career so far.”

Final climb decisive

Stage five took the riders on a 177.3km route that started in Exmouth and crossed over the Dartmoor National Park before tackling an ascent of Stoke Hill just 5km before the finish line.

Brandle (IAM Cycling) was joined in the breakaway by Archbold (An Post-Chain Reaction), Wynants (Belkin) and Andreas Stauff (MTN-Qhubeka) and although the quartet’s maximum lead was less than four minutes, a slow pace in the peloton enabled them to take an advantage of just over a minute on to Stoke Hill.

Brandle stayed with his fellow escapees for the first quarter of the 2.1km ascent, but with the gap to the peloton now tumbling, he then attacked solo 4.4km out and took a 27-second lead over the summit.

The Austrian maintained his advantage on the straight downhill down the other side and managed to hold off a fightback from Archbold and Wynants in the final kilometre to claim his third win of the season.

Kwiatkowski said: “It was not easy to be up there on the front but I made it and I am happy that we defended the yellow jersey today. I am happy with my condition but there are still a few stages to go. I hope we can defend it until London, but if we see the names like Bradley Wiggins, who is still 27 seconds back, and we have a 9km time trial in front of us, it is not going to be easy.”

Stage five result

1 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling, 4:32:03
2 Shane Archbold (NZ) An Post-Chain Reaction, +8secs
3 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Belkin, same time
4 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani, +14sec
5 Ben Swift (Gbr) Team Sky, st
6 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing, st
7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, st
8 Kevyn Ista (Bel) IAM Cycling, st
9 Nicolas Roche (Ire) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
10 Jack Bauer (NZ) Garmin-Sharp, st
Selected other
36 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, st

General classification

1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, 20:21:50
2 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani, +3secs
3 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, +14
4 Nicolas Roche (Ire) Tinkoff-Saxo, same time
5 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar, +23
6 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, +27
7 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky, st
8 Leopold Konig (Cze) NetApp-Endura, +29
9 Sebastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling, st
10 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar, +40