American Tyler Farrar Wins Stage 5 of the Vuelta 2010, Cavendish is Third

The fifth stage of the Vuelta a Espana favored the sprinters over the 198.8 km course from Guadix to Lorca ending with a downhill that was a good set up for a "massive sprint." The course crossed over three countries and two Comunidades Autonomas in cooler weather (30 C / 86 F) than the previous days.

The stage started out with a moment of silence to honor the memory of 80s cycling champion Laurent Fignon who passed away yesterday.

Since it was a day for the sprinters, the peloton remained steady and carefully monitored the four-man breakaway; which was swept up with 13 km to go.

The sprinters teams then took over to get their men in good position to spring forward for the win.

The Dish seemed to come out of nowhere during the final turn to the finish according to road.cc but Farrar zipped around him during the last few hundred meters to glory in the first American stage victory. Spanish rider Koldo Fernandez of Euskaltel-Euskadi also managed to get ahead of the Manxman to finish second thus Cav had to settle with third place.

Farrar said in an interview on BBC about his win:

"It was a surprise for me today, I was ill yesterday, I had a bad night," he revealed. "This morning I was a little better and I produced some adrenaline at the finish."

The overall category lineup didn't change and Belgian Philippe Gilbert of Omega Pharma-Lotto will wear the camiseta roja for the third day.

Notes:
- The Dish's HTC-Columbia teammate and lead-out man Bernhard Eisel had to drop out of the race during yesterday's stage

- This is the first time that Farrar (Fair-ER not FAR-ar) could be proud of the words he proclaims in his ubiquitous ad ("I'm Tyler Farrar, sprinter of team Garmin-Transitions..."). This ad seems to come up on Eurosport every time it goes to commercial during coverage

- Where is Thor Hushovd in all this? The Cervelo Test Team sprinter hasn't been heard about in the daily coverage... oh that's because he finished 170th today

- Tyler Farrar, 26, is from Wenatchee, Washington (named after the local American-Indian tribe) located in the central part of the state and known for apples and hydroelectric dams.

Thursday's Stage 6 will go 151 km (93.8 m) from Caravaca de la Cruz to Murcia. This stage could favor Thor Hushovd because of the steep Category 2 climb and descent very near the finish

Stage standings:
1) FARRAR, Tyler - Garmin-Transitions: 5:03:36
2) FERNÁNDEZ DE LARREA, Koldo - Euskaltel-Euskadi
3) CAVENDISH, Mark - HTC-Columbia
4) WEYLANDT, Wouter - Quickstep
5) PETACCHI, Alessandro - Lampre-Farnese Vini

Overall standings:
1) GILBERT, Philippe - Omega Pharma-Lotto: 19:00:06
2) ANTON, Igor - Euskaltel-Euskadi: + 10"
3) RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin - Katusha: + 10"
4) NIBALI, Vincenzo - Liquigas: + 12"
5) VELITS, Peter - HTC-Columbia: + 16"