Cavendish Wins Crash Marred Stage 5 at Tour

7/6/11 - Britain's Mark Cavendish has claimed his first stage win of the 2011 Tour, the 16th of his career in cycling's biggest bike race. Cavendish's victory, his fifth of 2011, came in a hotly disputed bunch sprint at the end of  stage five from Carhaix to Cap Frehel ahead of Belgium's Philippe Gilbert and Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas.

"I'm just passionate about my sport, I love to win and the team gave it everything today to make sure I could get to the line first," Cavendish said, "There are a lot of difficult finishes this year and not so many bunch sprints, so I had to make sure I got this one, I had to be resilient."

Video: Saxo-Bank's Nicki Sorensen crashes with a motorcycle.

Cadel Evans avoided a number of crashes that took down several overall contenders at the Tour de France Wednesday as the BMC Racing Team's leader held onto his second place overall.

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard), Bradley Wiggins (Sky Pro Cycling) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) each crashed, but all were able to get up and continue. Evans finished 11th as Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) won the uphill bunch sprint finish on the 164.5-kilometer stage. "It was really windy, with narrow, winding roads," Evans said. "We worked hard to stay in front all day. I just kept hearing on the radio over and over again, 'crash, crash, crash' and sort of kept going, and then I saw Gesink all covered in dirt. It was a dangerous day."

Video: Alberto Contador (Saxo-Bank) crashes during Stage 5.

Evans remains one second behind yellow jersey wearer Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) heading into the longest stage (226.5 km) of this year's race. The two-time Tour de France runner-up said he's appreciating the fine teamwork he has received, particularly from Manuel Quinziato and Marcus Burghardt. "They're used to riding the classics and riding in the front all day, and dodging traffic islands is their speciality," Evans said. "I'm very grateful to have them here for that as well as their role in the team."