French rider Christophe Kern of Team Europcar counterattacked on the final climb to win the fifth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine Libere 2011 earlier this afternoon, while Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain and Team Sky Procycling retained the yellow jersey.

Kern completed the 210-kilometer stage in 5 hours, 5 minutes, 3 seconds to earn his first victory since 2004.

Chris Anker Sørensen of Team Saxo Bank-SunGard and Denmark finished second, seven seconds behind Kern. Kern's teammate Thomas Voeckler of France was third, nine seconds back.

In the overall standings, Wiggins still leads Team BMC Racing's Cadel Evans of Australia by 01:11. Defending champion Janez Brajkovic of Team RadioShack/Slovenia remained in third place, 01:21 back.

"Some of my adversaries for general classification, Vinokourov and Van den Broeck, tried to drop me off but Cadel (Evans) didn't," Wiggins commented after today's intensive stage and continued "(Joaquim) Rodriguez attacked a few times but that was for the stage more than for the time. I was never worried. This was the first of three tough days. It won't be complicated tomorrow and on Sunday: I'll just race flat out to defend the yellow jersey."

Jason McCartney broke away at the 95-kilometer mark to build a lead that reached 12:30. But the American rider was reeled in nine kilometers from the finish.

Oliver Zaugg of Switzerland went on the attack in the final climb. But Zaugg was overtaken by Kern 3 kilometers from the end.

Team Saxo Bank-SunGard's Chris Anker Sørensen attacks. Photo Fotoreporter Sirotti.

The French rider produced a strong effort to hold off a late charge from Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan.

"I've really waited a very long time for that one," Kern told France 3 television. "It's been years since I last won."

"I had already tried in the first stage where I came close to winning but was reeled in 800 meters from the finish. So today I gave everything."

Kern's career was derailed by a knee injury in 2006 when he collided with a scooter while training.

On Saturday, riders have a 192.5-kilometer trek from Les Gets to Le Collet d'Allevard.

The race ends the day after tomorrow.