Andre Greipel said he feared he'd been boxed in before powering through to win the 189.5km Tour de France fifth stage on Wednesday.

Greipel surged past Mark Cavendish and Alexander Kristoff before holding off Peter Sagan, who finished like a bullet, to win his second stage of this year's Tour and his eighth in total.

But he said there was a moment when he thought he might be trapped and the chance would have gone.

"I think it was quite an interesting sprint as none of the sprinters had a real leadout man in the last 400 metres, so everybody had to time their sprint somehow and find the right position," said the 32-year-old German.

"I thought the sprint was finished for me but I managed to find space to get out and launch my sprint. I thought it was a really interesting sprint.

"I was just looking for the gap, I knew the right side would be blocked and I was just focusing on the left side to get out."

Sagan finished so fast that 10 metres beyond the line he was already well ahead of Greipel, but he said he just started his sprint from too far back.

It was the second time he'd finished second to Greipel in a sprint finish this year, while he was also third in Tuesday's stage.

Last year he had nine top five finishes at the Tour, including four second places, but he has not won a stage since 2013.

- Too far back -

However, whereas last year he had the entire Cannondale team working for him, this year he is a domestique for Alberto Contador at Tinkoff-Saxo and is only let off the leash at the end of stages to challenge for the win.

"I was too far back in the last 100 metres and I was just a little bit late but overall it was good," he said.

"I was simply too far back in 10th position with 200 metres to go and I couldn't catch Greipel."

He added: "It's hard to beat Greipel and I'm happy with my second place."

Cavendish was gracious in defeat, admitting the better man had won.

"Greipel and Sagan just came around past me at the end. I didn't feel great in the sprint, but no-one felt great after a stage like today," he said.

"I was going OK, but they just were going faster.

"But really I was just beaten by two very strong guys. So congratulations to Greipel as he deserves this victory."

Meanwhile, race leader Tony Martin said he didn't get a chance to enjoy his first ever day in yellow as he couldn't sleep the night before.

The 30-year-old German won Tuesday's fourth stage and relieved 2013 champion Chris Froome of the yellow jersey.
"I couldn't really sleep so well, I fell asleep maybe at two o'clock in the morning. I woke up early again but it was ok for me.

"I woke up feeling really well and thinking directly of the yellow jersey. That gave me a lot of power today in the race but I hope I can find some more sleep tonight otherwise I won't see Paris."

What looked on paper to be a relatively calm stage was anything but with several crashes taking place -- knocking New Zealand's Jack Bauer and Nacer Bouhanni of France out of the race while Swiss rider Michael Albasini pulled out after it with a fractured left arm -- and a huge split carving the peloton in two as wind and rain took its toll.

"It was incredible, everyone thought today was going to be the relaxing day of the Tour but the wind and rain made it anything but relaxing," said Tejay Van Garderen, who remained third over all at 25sec from Martin, with Froome second at 12sec.
Source: AFP