Andre Greipel Wins Stage Five of the Vuelta

It's not shocking when someone from Columbia HTC wins a sprint at the end of a stage in the green jersey as points leader...hello Mark Cavendish, but today it was Andre Greipel winning stage five of the Vuelta a Espana. The victory over the last 100 meters of the 174km stage (and the first actually IN Spain) came in a bunch sprint and put Greipel in the Vuelta's gold jersey, the equivalent of the Tour de France's yellow jersey. The overall Vuelta leader for the first four days of the race Fabian Cancellara dropped to third overall in the general classification.

American Tyler Farrar of the Garmin Slipstream team keeps coming so close on the sprints but just can't seem to break through. He finished fourth today and sits third overall in the points race.

Tomorrow's stage six of the Vuelta begins and ends in Xativa, which has been a common theme for this year's race, beginning and ending in the same place. Lather, rinse, repeat. Although this stage actually features some decent climbing, so there should be a chance for some breakaways which, for the most part in the 2009 Vuelta, have been nonexistent so far. For a look at the upcoming stage, check out the preview on Podium Cafe.