Kristoff takes sprint victory in Leuggern

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) came up trumps on stage five of the Tour de Suisse from Buochs to Leuggern, winning the bunch sprint ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ).

The Katusha rider opened up his sprint at the perfect moment, coming around Matti Breschel (Saxo-Tinkoff) as the road flattened out in the final 150 meters, with Sagan unable to come through.

Breschel, who had seen his Saxo-Tinkoff teammates try and control the race in the final stages, found himself at front too soon and was unable to hold the lead. Sagan suffered the same problem and was forced to open his sprint early while Kristoff could save his legs for the final 150 meters.

"I knew the sprint and the uphill and I knew I could make it from 150 meters to go. I'm really happy and this is my biggest victory. It's my first WorldTour win," Kristoff said.

Mathias Frank (BMC) retained his lead of 23 seconds over Roman Kreuziger (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) but Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team), who started the stage in fourth, crashed out.

How it happened

Stijn Devolder (RadioShack-Leopard), Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun), Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Serge Pauwels (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) broke clear after 18 kilometres and successfully built up a lead over the peloton.

As with stage 4 the break failed to establish a healthy enough of an advantage to trouble the peloton. Their lead stretched to just under three minutes with 100 kilometres to go and despite Pauwels stretching his legs on the first set of climbs and leading the break, the peloton were in no mood to let the opportunity of a bunch sprint slip through their fingers.

The lead was down to a minute with 30 kilometres to go, while Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) was forced to pick himself out a ditch after a crash at the back of the field.

By now Cannondale were in full swing, intent on making up for yesterday, when on a rare occasion Peter Sagan fluffed his lines and could only manage seventh in the sprint. Boonen, another rider who failed to impress on stage 4, was able to hold his team back with Pauwels still up ahead.

The final two fourth category climbs sapped the last bit of strength from the break but it was Saxo-Tinkoff who reeled the break in. The Danish team were looking to catch race leader Mathias Frank napping, with Nicolas Roche setting a furious pace on the last climb.

Although the Irishman's efforts created clear daylight within the bunch the gaps were efficiently closed.

BMC, stung by Roche's audacity, moved their race leader back towards the front of the peloton with IAM Cycling also flexing their muscles.

Onto the final ascent of the Zurzacherberg Jorge Azanza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) jumped off the front of the peloton and built up a slight advantage. But the sprinters were not to be denied, and Thomas Lovkvist pulled the Euskaltel rider back.

Inside the final 10 kilometres BMC once more took up the responsibility of setting the pace. It allowed Argos-Shimano, Orica-GreenEdge, FDJ and Cannondale to organise their respective trains. It would be Saxo-Tinkoff, working for Daniele Bennati, who managed to assert control with 5 kilometres of racing left with Kreuziger helping to set the pace.

Inside the final kilometre Cannondale, BMC and Saxo-Tinkoff drew their sprinters as close to the front as possible but the nature of the final corner and rise to the finish meant that timing rather than brute strength would be critical.

Kristoff had kept out of trouble and out of the wind, sparingly using his Katusha team during the run in, and when the field dipped under the 400 metre to go banner the Norwegian looked a long shot at best. However his patience was to be rewarded with the 25-year-old's fifth win of the season.

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