Christophe Kern of Europcar won the fifth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, with Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky retaining the leader's jersey.
Kern gave the French contingent a first stage win of this edition by seeing off Dane Chris Sorensen of Saxobank by 7sec following a moderate climb over the final 10.7 kilometres to land the longest stage of the race (210km).
Kern's team-mate Thomas Voeckler, who had been expected to challenge hard for the stage win in his own right, protected the former as he launched his final attack to win in 5hr 05min 03sec.
Voeckler came in third at 9sec, just edging Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez of Katyusha off the podium as Kern made his move for the line 2.5km out.
Ireland's Daniel Martin put in a great performance, finishing in 8th place, just nine seconds behind Kerns. It was a display that was good enough to move him up to 66th overall.
By contrast Nicolas Roche endured a nightmare ride, finishing at the back of the pack in 163rd and lost a full 25:06 to Kerns.
Wiggins finished in the closing pack, which included Voeckler, Rodriguez and Alexandre Vinokourov of Astana.
