British sprint ace Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) claimed his third consecutive stage in the Tour of Qatar and was able to extend his overall lead in the process. 

The Manxman edged out Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2R La Mondiale) and Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) in the 5th stage of the race to Madinat Al Shamal. Cavendish now enjoys a 15 seconds lead over Brent Bookwalter (Team BMC).

Cavendish assumed the overall lead on stage 4 yesterday and has so far relied on his own tactical knowledge and experience in the sprints but today his team provided a perfect lead out train when Niki Terpstra dropped the sprinter off inside the final 250 meters to raise home for a third straight stage win.

In fact Terpstra had been part of an earlier break along with Bernhard Eisel (Team Sky) and Taylor Phinney (Team BMC) but with 16 kilometres to go and Terpstra content to just sit on, Cavendish and his team reeled in the move.

Inside the closing 7 km BMC took charge of the peloton, with GreenEdge, FDJ and Liquigas all attempting to assert their dominance as well. However, Quick Step were in complete control once again with 3 kilometres remaining of the stage.
 

Result of stage 5:

1. Mark Cavendish – Omega Pharma-Quick Step 03:11:11
2. Yauheni Hutarovich - AG2R-La Mondiale
3. Aidis Kruopsis - Orica-GreenEdge
4. Adam Blythe - BMC
5. Luke Rowe - Team Sky
6. John Degenkolb - Argos-Shimano
7. Alexander Kristoff - Katusha
8. Nacer Bouhanni - FDJ
9. Heinrich Haussler - IAM Cycling
10. Roger Kluge - Team NetAPP-Endura

General Classification:

1. Mark Cavendish 13:30:59
2. Brent Bookwalter 00:15

3. Tayloy Phinney 00:20