Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu won a thrilling sprint finish in today's fifth stage of the Tour de France. The stage, which travelled from Soisson to Rouen over 195km, saw Kirsipuu and four other riders break away from the peloton at the half way stage never to be caught, but by the end three were left to battle it out for the line.
Kirsipuu, 32, from the Ag2r Prevoyance team, CSC-Tiscali's 34-year-old Dane Michael Sandstodt, and 38-year-old Belgian Ludo Dierckxsens, from Lampre were all involved in the close finish but it was the younger legs of Kirsipuu that proved enough to take victory ahead of Sandstodt who finished second leaving Dierckxsens to third.
The pelton had been closing ground on the leaders but a crash 15 km from the end ended that fightback. Marco Pinotti, an Italian from the Lampre-Daikin team, was the most seriously injured and was reported to have been flown to hospital in Rouen with serious facial injuries.
The stage result did not affect the overall standings with ONCE rider Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano holding on to the yellow jersey ahead of team-mate Joseba Beloki., while Lance Armstrong remains third overall.
Afterwards a delighted but tired Kirsipuu said, "For the rest of the tour I will try to recover from the effort today, but I think the rest of the team is much more free in their mind to make moves like they did today."
Filed by Johnny Proby
