Parisien sprints to stage 5 win in Catalunya

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François Parisien won the bunch sprint that decided stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya into Lleida. The 30-year-old Canadian, who is in his first season with Argos-Shimano, came through in the final metres to deny Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) and Stéphane Poulhies (Cofidis). Garmin-Sharp's Dan Martin retained the leader's jersey and even managed to extend his advantage over Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) by taking third place and a one-second time bonus in the day's final intermediate sprint.

Lotto's Olivier Kaisen and Cofidis's Tristan Valentin joined forces after 50km with the aim of preventing a sprint. They quickly pushed their lead out to four minutes, but Omega Pharma-Quick Step took up the pace-making in the bunch at that point and their lead never extended beyond that mark. With 15km remaining and the bunch bearing down on them, Kaisen and Valentin shook hands at the end of their joint effort.

Astana's Andrey Kashechkin tried his luck with half a dozen kilometres left, but found his attack was quickly snuffed out. Going under the 2km banner, BMC's Marcus Burghardt shot clear, only to be reeled in by Argos-Shimano and Cannondale before the final kilometre.

The lead-out riders from these two teams duelled for the best line into the final 90-degree left-hander, which came just 300 metres from the line. As it turned out, both of them were beaten into the turn by Cofidis's Poulhies, whose canny move left him several metres clear of the pack when he turned into the final straight. For a few moments, the Frenchman's advantage seemed like it might be enough for him to be able to hang on, but in the final 50 metres, Parisien surged past him to claim the biggest win of his career, which he celebrated enthusiastically with his Argos teammates.

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