United Health Care rider Marc De Maar's won the Tour Of Britain Fifth Stage today.
Trentham Gardens in Stoke On Trent was the departure point for today's 147km long stage and the pace was high as the riders set off.
Orica GreenEdge's Lee Howard took the first sprint of the day before fellow Australian Brett Lancaster was forced to abandon following an earlier crash.
Barta of Net App took the first King Of The Mountains climb before Ivan, Basso of Liquigas, Bernard Salzberger of Team Raleigh and Huzarski of NettApp launched the first real break of the day and got two minutes clear of the peloton that included race leader Mark Cavendish.
Basso took the second sprit at Uttoxeter and the diggers of JCB (https://twitter.com/TourofBritain/status/246204946297524226/photo/1) were out at Rocester for the third sprint, which Huzarski won ahead of Basso, Saltzberger and Team Sky's Bernie Eisel (Pictured below).
Saltzberger took the second King Of The Mountains climb before Basso set off on his own with 52kms to go.
With Mark Cavendish now over four minutes behind with 35.8kms to go at the back with Wiggins and Hunt, the peloton which had Basso back in the fold, split all over the road.
Jonathan Tiernan Locke of Endura Racing was first to take on the climb of Gun Hill with 30kms to go and he took the ten points ahead of a group of 26 riders.
Seven riders were now ahead with 23.5kms to go, whilst Cavendish slipped further back. Lee Howard was now the virtual leader on the road after making it into the second group of nineteen riders.
With 14kms left, Caruso of Liquigas tried to go off the front but Tiernan-Locke stopped him.
Five Kilometres later, there was a crash at the front which took out Galland and a United Health Care rider.
There were 5.6kms to go when Marc De Maar attacked as the race headed towards the finishing line in Old Hill Street in Hanley.
United Health Care rider De Maar had opened up an fifteen second lead and he raced to a deserved victory in a time of 3.30.27.
Sep van Marcke took second place ahead of Boy Van Poppel.
The group containing Cavendish and Wiggins in a super domestique role, came in 11, 45 back.
Lee Howard takes over as the race leader.
Stage Five, The Stoke-on-Trent Stage, 147km
1) Marc de Maar, AHO, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, 3:30:26
2) Sep Vanmarcke, BEL, Garmin - Sharp, + 0.15
3) Boy Van Poppel, NED, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, same time
4) Nathan Haas, AUS, Garmin - Sharp, same time
5) Leigh Howard, AUS, Orica GreenEDGE, same time
Rouleur Combativity Award: Ivan Basso, Liquigas - Cannondale
IG Gold Jersey, General Classification, after Stage Five
1) Leigh Howard, AUS, Orica GreenEDGE, 20:38:35
2) Boy Van Poppel, NED, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, + 0.07
3) Sep Vanmarcke, BEL, Garmin - Sharp, + 0.17
4) Nathan Haas, AUS, Garmin - Sharp, + 0.23
5) Christian Knees, GER, Team Sky, + 0.24
Chain Reaction Cycles Points Classification, after Stage Five
1) Boy Van Poppel, NED, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, 61pts
2) Leigh Howard, AUS, Orica GreenEDGE, 53pts
3) Mark Cavendish, GBR, Team Sky, 44pts
4) Russell Downing, GBR, Endura Racing, 44pts
5) Luke Rowe, GBR, Team Sky, 39pts
SKODA King of the Mountains Classification, after Stage Five
1) Kristian House, GBR, Rapha Condor, 66pts
2) Pablo Urtasun, SPA, Euskaltel - Euskadi, 44pts
4) Peter Williams, GBR, Node4 - Giordana Racing, 32pts
4) Richard Handley, GBR, Rapha Condor, 32pts
5) Bernard Sulzberger, AUS, Team Raleigh - GAC, 31pts
Yodel Sprints Classification, after Stage Five
1) Peter Williams, GBR, Node4 - Giordana Racing, 29pts
2) Matt Cronshaw, GBR, Node4 - Giordana Racing, 13pts
3) Rony Martias, FRA, Saur Sojasun, 12pts
4) Kristian House, GBR, Rapha Condor, 10pts
5) Bartosz Huzarski, POL, Team NetApp, 8pts
Team General Classification, after Stage Five
1) Saur Sojasun, FRA, 62:00:45
2) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, USA, + 1.14
3) Garmin - Sharp, USA, + 2.30
4) Endura Racing, GBR, + 3.41
5) Team NetApp, GER, + 7.39
Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM