Today’s mostly flat 164.5 km from Carhaix to Cap Frehel offered a wide open opportunity for the major sprinters to go head to head.

And so they did, with the Manx Missile Mark Cavendish winning handily at the finish in Cap Frehel.

But the action did not come without lots of pain, crashes, an abandonment by one rider, as well as a disqualification for Joaquin Rojas resulting in a hand off of the Green Jersey to Phillipe Gilbert at the end of the day.

The scene unraveled in parallel with a virtual universe existing over the airwaves, where Cavendish’s destiny was being cheered on by a romantic well-wisher in London, England.

In the overall classification, Thor Hushovd retained his Yellow Jersey, with Cadel Evans second.

It was after days of frustrating finishes for the HTC Highroad sprinter who missed several opportunities for victories in the first, third and fourth stages, and must have vowed  to not let another opportunity pass by.

Even in the intermediate sprints he was thwarted when he was penalized for pushing back Thor Hushovd in the intermediate sprint in Stage 3.

But today  he won, and even for the fastest man on earth, it wasn’t easy:

I was pushed back with a couple of  kilometers to go….I was just behind and I thought, ‘That’s it… now I’ll just have to go for the green jersey points.’ I just thought I’d salvage a few points but Bradley Wiggins was there, Geraint Thomas was there and they just went!  With a couple  of hundred meters to go I had to give it everything. I really didn’t think I’d win but I got my acceleration – I got the jump alongside Gilbert and, really, my legs were burning… it was really hard actually. I was coming, coming, coming  and I was really surprised that I won,” said Cavendish.

Behind the scenes Cavendish who hails from the Isle of Man was also being prompted by a new found love interest through relentless Tweets Peta Todd, a 23-year-old British model who sent him hourly  public messages encouraging him to win.

CI was the first to report the incessant interest by Ms. Todd on her Twitter account for wins from Cavendish.

To not win today would have been in essence both personally and professionally embarrassing for the ‘fastest man in the world.’

Starting as early as 10 AM Ms. Todd was tweeting “Come on boy. You can do this my love. You are INCREDIBLE! Next level class. @HTCHighroad COME ON TAKE NO SHIT!!!”

Todd even offered a plea to God for her new found love: “Dear God, I know i have been out of the flock for a while, but … can I ask a favour? Have you heard of the #TourdeFrance?”

She also promised to name her next son after him if he won, and when he did she wrote, “Proud doesnt even come close. @MarkCavendish you are a phenomenon both on and off a bike. Congratulations. And so it begins…”

Later she posted a picture of her son with Mark Cavendish in the background on television.

With all the action taking place outside of the race, it’s a miracle that the riders–particularly Cavendish–are able to concentrate on the task at hand such as riding over 99 miles a day for 20 days in grueling heat against the fastest cyclists in the world.

And the day was filled with crashes, disqualifications and disappointments.

After showing a consistently good performance in the Tour so far with the most sprinter points, Green Jersey holder Joaquin Rojas was disqualified in the intermediate sprint.

Though the information could not be confirmed by officials at ASO, Rojas crossed the field during the sprint in Goudelin, causing Cavendish to put his hands up in frustration. In that sprint Rojas was ninth and Cavendish 13th.

Rojas’ loss  gave fuel to prognosticators that Phillipe Gilbert of Omega Pharma Lotto would not only take the Green Jersey in the sixth stage again tomorrow, but that he would also be a man to contend with once the tour reaches the mountains.

Frank Schleck of Team Leopard Trek has now moved into third position in the overall rankings, a placement he may not have anticipated at the beginning of this year’s Tour: more likely he would expect his brother Andy Schleck to be there.

Last year Frank suffered several debilitating crashes in the first five stages, and he may have been determined not to let that happen again this time.

General Classification contender and 2010 Yellow Jersey winner Alberto Contador had another crash, and though he was quickly back on his bike, he rode with a torn jersey.  But it would be folly to underestimate the ability of Contador to come back to the front once the competition reaches the mountains.

The course claimed even more accidents over the day, bringing down other experienced riders such as Robert Gesink of Team Rabobank, Tom Boonen of QuickStep, and Jani Brajkovic of Team RadioShack. Though Gesink and Boonen was able to get up and continue the race, Brajkovic suffered a concussion and a fractured collarbone, and has left the race confirmed his Race Director Johan Bruyneel.

“Not a good day 4 @TeamRadioShack 2day. We lost @janibrajkovic on a crash. He’s out w/ a concussion & probably fractured collarbone,” wrote Bruyneel on his Twitter account.

Also around the 60 km mark there was a crash that involved about 12 riders including Chavanel (QST), Wiggins (SKY), Ten Dam (RAB), and Leipheimer (RSH).

“These crashes are not being caused by the course, the riders are literally touching wheels,” said Phil Liggett in his live Versus commentary today.

One fall by Nicki Sorensen (SBS) was caused by a motorbike trying to pass the peloton: Shouldn’t TDF officials be DQ’ing those motorcycle riders?

Steegmans (QST) as well as Boom (RAB) were caught up in a crash around the 90 km mark, but neither was badly injured.

An early break by four riders was established about 4 km from the start and included Gutierrez (MOV) who was joined by Valentin (COF), Turgot (EUR) and the youngest rider, Delaplace (SAU).

A break about 45 km to the finish by some of the same players as yesterday, Jeremy Roy of Francais des Jeux, and Frenchman Thomas Voeckler who is riding with Europcar this year stayed ahead of the peloton well past the 3 miles to the finish.

It was a brave move by the two riders who knew in their hearts of hearts that they might have to deal with the fast sprinters’ teams before they reached the finish.

All of the major sprinters were favored to win this stage, including Cavendish, Tyler Farrar, Tom Boonen who crashed, and Alessandro Petacchi of Team Lampre-ISD.

But the steamroller of HTC Highroad at 2 km from the finish was too fast for Thomas Voeckler as they eclipsed him on the road. Tyler Farrar’s Garmin Cervelo team was also lined up to take the lead for the sprint.

Thor Hushovd also got himself into position when Ben Swift accelerated from the field for the uphill finish, followed fast by Hushod who passed him, then Phillipe Gilbert who passed Hushvod, followed by Geraint Thomas, but it was Cavendish who took the wheel of Thomas who proved to be the fastest.

It was Cavendish’s 16th stage win in a Tour de France.  The record for stage wins is 22.

OVERALL STANDINGS AT THE END OF STAGE 5. Source: ASO

1.	HUSHOVD Thor	51	TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO	17h 36′ 57″
2.	EVANS Cadel	141	BMC RACING TEAM	17h 36′ 58″	+ 00′ 01″
3.	SCHLECK Frank	18	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	17h 37′ 01″	+ 00′ 04″
4.	MILLAR David	56	TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO	17h 37′ 05″	+ 00′ 08″
5.	KLÖDEN Andréas	74	TEAM RADIOSHACK	17h 37′ 07″	+ 00′ 10″
6.	WIGGINS Bradley	111	SKY PROCYCLING	17h 37′ 07″	+ 00′ 10″
7.	THOMAS Geraint	117	SKY PROCYCLING	17h 37′ 09″	+ 00′ 12″
8.	HAGEN Edvald Boasson	114	SKY PROCYCLING	17h 37′ 09″	+ 00′ 12″
9.	FUGLSANG Jakob	13	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	17h 37′ 09″	+ 00′ 12″
10.	SCHLECK Andy	11	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	17h 37′ 09″	+ 00′ 12″
11.	MARTIN Tony	175	HTC – HIGHROAD	17h 37′ 10″	+ 00′ 13″
12.	VELITS Peter	179	HTC – HIGHROAD	17h 37′ 10″	+ 00′ 13″
13.	HORNER Christopher	72	TEAM RADIOSHACK	17h 37′ 15″	+ 00′ 18″
14.	LEIPHEIMER Levi	75	TEAM RADIOSHACK	17h 37′ 15″	+ 00′ 18″
15.	GESINK Robert	41	RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM	17h 37′ 17″	+ 00′ 20″
16.	VINOKOUROV Alexandre	61	PRO TEAM ASTANA	17h 37′ 29″	+ 00′ 32″
17.	GILBERT Philippe	32	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO	17h 37′ 30″	+ 00′ 33″
18.	VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen	31	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO	17h 37′ 36″	+ 00′ 39″
19.	BARREDO Carlos	42	RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM	17h 37′ 37″	+ 00′ 40″
20.	GAUTIER Cyril	183	TEAM EUROPCAR	17h 37′ 55″	+ 00′ 58″
21.	BASSO Ivan	91	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	17h 38′ 00″	+ 01′ 03″
22.	DE WEERT Kevin	124	QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM	17h 38′ 01″	+ 01′ 04″
23.	GERDEMANN Linus	14	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	17h 38′ 03″	+ 01′ 06″
24.	ROCHE Nicolas	101	AG2R LA MONDIALE	17h 38′ 09″	+ 01′ 12″
25.	CUNEGO Damiano	161	LAMPRE – ISD	17h 38′ 09″	+ 01′ 12″
26.	SILIN Egor	198	KATUSHA TEAM	17h 38′ 09″	+ 01′ 12″
27.	ROJAS Jose Joaquin	88	MOVISTAR TEAM	17h 38′ 12″	+ 01′ 15

STAGE FINISH STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 5: Source: ASO

1.	CAVENDISH Mark	171	HTC – HIGHROAD	3h 38′ 32″
2.	GILBERT Philippe	32	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
3.	ROJAS Jose Joaquin	88	MOVISTAR TEAM	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
4.	GALLOPIN Tony	156	COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
5.	THOMAS Geraint	117	SKY PROCYCLING	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
6.	GREIPEL André	33	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
7.	HINAULT Sébastien	105	AG2R LA MONDIALE	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
8.	BONNET William	132	FDJ	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
9.	OSS Daniel	95	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
10.	HUSHOVD Thor	51	TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
11.	EVANS Cadel	141	BMC RACING TEAM	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
12.	KLÖDEN Andréas	74	TEAM RADIOSHACK	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
13.	JEANNESSON Arnold	134	FDJ	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
14.	O’GRADY Stuart	16	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
15.	VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen	31	OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
16.	KREUZIGER Roman	66	PRO TEAM ASTANA	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
17.	RUIJGH Rob	208	VACANSOLEIL-DCM	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
18.	WIGGINS Bradley	111	SKY PROCYCLING	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
19.	ROUX Anthony	137	FDJ	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
20.	ROCHE Nicolas	101	AG2R LA MONDIALE	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
21.	GALIMZYANOV Denis	193	KATUSHA TEAM	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
22.	GAUTIER Cyril	183	TEAM EUROPCAR	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
23.	FUGLSANG Jakob	13	TEAM LEOPARD-TREK	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
24.	PINEAU Jérôme	127	QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
25.	SANCHEZ Samuel	21	EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
26.	MARTIN Tony	175	HTC – HIGHROAD	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
27.	LEUKEMANS Bjorn	205	VACANSOLEIL-DCM	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″
28.	VINOKOUROV Alexandre	61	PRO TEAM ASTANA	3h 38′ 32″	+ 00′ 00″

Tags: Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, Jani Brajkovic, Joaquin Rojas Thor Hushovd, Mark Cavendish, Phillipe Gilbert, Robert Gesink, Stage 5, Tom Boonen, Tour de France 2011