LONDON – Itay’s Marco Frapporti, riding for the Colnago team, on Wednesday won the fifth stage of the Tour of Britain, a 176km ride from Tavistock to Glastonbury.

Switzerland’s Michael Albasini, of HTC-Columbia, kept the yellow jersey.

Frapporti was one of eight riders who escaped early on in the stage and stepped up the pace 5km from home to finish 13 seconds ahead of Britain’s Bradley Wiggins.

“With five kilometres to go I jumped and Dan Martin couldn’t go with me,”
said Frapporti.

Later on Wednesday, Albasini’s team-mate Tony Martin had to pull out of the race through illness.

On Thursday, the Tour’s sixth stage will be the longest of the race, a 190km ride from King’s Lynn through Sandringham and Norwich to Great Yarmouth.

Stage
1. Marco Frapporti (ITA/Colnago) 4hr 16min 10sec, 2. Bradley Wiggins
(GBR/Sky) at 13, 3. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (ARG/Saxo Bank) 32, 4. Iker Camano (ESP/Endura Racing) same time, 5. Michal Golas (POL/Vacansoleil) same time

Overall
1. Michael Albasini (SUI/HTC-Columbia) 15hr 27min 41sec, 2. Richie Porte (AUS/Saxo Bank) at 1:28, 3. Borut Bozic (SLO/Vacansoleil) 1:32, 4. Greg Henderson (NZL/Sky) 1:36, 5. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/Vacansoleil) 1:42.