Cycling: McEwen snatches Tour sprint victory

MONTARGIS, France - Australia's Robbie McEwen outsprinted Belgian Tom Boonen to win the Tour de France's fifth stage with a spirit of revenge today.

Winner of the points classification last year, the Australian champion beat current points leader Boonen on the line at Montargis to claim the sixth Tour stage of his career.

Boonen, who dominated the previous two mass sprint finishes in the second and third stages, was first into action in the finish. But he ran out of gas close to the line and a last-gasp kick was enough for the Davitamon Lotto leader to overtake him.

Victory was all the sweeter for McEwen as he had been disqualified two days earlier after being involved in a brawl with compatriot Stuart O'Grady.

Norway's Thor Hushovd was third in the same time of three hours and 46 minutes, while six-time winner and overall race leader Lance Armstrong finished back in the peloton.

"Today I timed it just right," said McEwen after winning a stage at the third attempt since the weekend.

"The first time, I started too far down. The second I was disqualified. This time I'm the fastest.

"It's a sort of revenge as I was really frustrated after the disqualification," McEwen added, though he said it would take "a miracle" for him to get back into contention for the points title. He currently trails Boonen by 45 points.

The peloton nearly started the 183 km stage from the spectacular Chambord castle without a rider in the leader's yellow jersey as Armstrong at first decided not to wear it as a tribute to previous leader David Zabriskie.

The first stage winner crashed less than two km from the finish of Tuesday's team time trial in Blois and lost his leader's jersey in the process.

"We're convinced that he would have kept his leader's jersey had he not crashed. You don't take the yellow jersey away from a rider who crashed out," said Armstrong's team chief Johan Bruyneel.

The six-time Tour champion himself evoked the "Tour history" to explain his gesture towards his young compatriot, who had been his team mate for four seasons.

In the past, Eddy Merckx and Greg LeMond refused to wear the yellow jersey after the previous holder -- Spain's Luis Ocana and Dane Rolf Sorensen -- had crashed.

But the Texan was forced to give in and wear the yellow jersey on Wednesday when race stewards warned him that he faced heavy sanctions if he did not.

Armstrong retained his 55-second lead over team mate and right arm George Hincapie with Germany's Jens Voigt third, 1:04 behind.

Though the Tour finish in Paris is a long way away, the American has taken a decisive edge in the first week.

Carefully escorted by his Discovery Channel team mates, he has so far avoided any crash or mishap -- unlike his main rivals.

Germany's Jan Ullrich was hurt in training on the day before the start when he crashed into his team manager's car.

After Zabriskie crashed on Tuesday it was his CSC team leader Ivan Basso who was caught in a pile-up 50km from the finish on Wednesday.

Third last year, Italy's Basso made it back into the main pack.

The fall occurred while four riders, Spain's Juan Antonio Flecha, Italian Salvatore Commesso, Hungary's Laszlo Bodrogi and Finland's Kjell Carlstrom were in the lead.

The quartet took a maximum lead of more than five minutes over the rest of the pack before being caught with 11 km to go.

The stage was then set for the Boonen/McEwen show.

Thursday's sixth stage takes the riders to Nancy, near the German border, over 199 km of another flat stage tailor made for sprinters.

- REUTERS