It was a day for the French riders and team, with five French riders monopolising the top five. A break of fourteen rider, packed with French riders, formed 60 km into the race and the winner would come from there. Alexandr Pliuschin was very active before the break went away, but he missed the succesful attempt including Pinot. With the peloton closing in, Pinot attacked with 30 km to go and kept on augmenting his gap to his chasers, who were scattered over the roads. Pinot arrived solo in Lelex and was no threat for the overall leader, Andrew Talansky.

Stagiaire Jan Hirt performed very well in the hard stage 5. Adriano Baffi: "He rode very well and was in the group with Talansky on the last climb. They went full gas, but he went with ease, so that's very good news for our project. He finished 13th, which is very good at this level of racing."

On the down side of things, Giorgio Brambilla crashed hard in the stage when he missed a corner on a downhill. He was immediately brought to the hospital. Adriano Baffi: "It didn't look very good at first and we feared for a broken ribs and a broken femur. It turned out to be less important: he broke a rib, but the rest is only bruises. Luckily!"