Isaichev wins stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse

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Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha) triumphed on stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse with a powerful sprint into Gansingen to take his first professional win. The 26-year-old beat Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Salvatore Puccio (Sky). Rui Costa (Movistar) retained his overall lead.

It marked just the second win for a Russian in a Katusha jersey in 2012, but most surprisingly of all, the stage outcome provided a respite from Peter Sagan's dominant run of three wins in four days.

With the mountain stages of the race on the horizon and with four days of racing in their legs, the peloton was willing to see a group of seven riders go clear after just 11 kilometres of racing.

With six category three climbs to conquer, with the last one coming some 16km before the finish, the outcome was far from certain but with Daniel Oss (Liquigas) present, the break's chances quickly increased.

No other sprint teams were determined to chase for Sagan to simply outclass them again and with Isaichev, Salvatore Puccio (Sky), Klaas Lodewyck (BMC), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Sebastien Minard (AG2R) and Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank) for company Oss - one of Sagan's lead-out men was allowed to press on. With 145km to go, a gap of over nine minutes was established, with a peak of over 10 minutes reached at one point.

With Puccio at over 13 minutes down on GC, but Costa's closest rival, Movistar was obliged to provide some form of containment and dutifully kept the gap at a stable 10 minutes for most of the stage.

The stage winner would therefore come from the break of seven. Oss, like so many other leadout men, is a fine sprinter in his own right, and was the quickest finisher present. Kroon, with his vast experience but slowing legs, and Puccio with his unknown capabilities, were the most dangerous, but all three were no match for the Isaichev's strength and determination - the Katusha rider closed down several attacks with ease in the final kilometres.

It was Lodewyck who blinked first with a tentative attack to test the waters with 20 kilometres remaining. BMC, without a stage win in its home tour, saw its man go clear again moments later as the final climb came into the frame but by now Lodewyck was a spent force. Perez and Isaichev led the chase and by the top of the climb, BMC's card had been caught and dropped.

It was now down to six and with the gap still at 10 minutes, the break could all afford to slow and watch each other. Kroon appeared to realise that Isaichev was the strongest rider, gluing himself to the Katusha rider's back wheel for much of the last 10 kilometres as Perez attempted to go clear. Oss was the first to react, with Kroon for once dislocating himself from Isaichev's shadow.

However the Russian quickly closed the move down and when another attack came, this time from Minard, it was Oss who was forced to set pace for the majority of the chase.

With just three kilometres to go, Minard made his move, a by far the most vicious attack, but Perez and Oss, again, closed the Frenchman down.

And Oss remained at the front as the six men approached the final few hundred meters, the worst place for a now visibly tired sprinter to be. Isaychev, sitting back powered through, Perez desperate to cling to his coattails, but the Russian proved too strong.

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