Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d?Epargne) has won Stage 5 of Paris-Nice. The Spaniard soloed away from four companions to win the mountainous, 201.5-km ride from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>
Avignon to Digne-les-Bains in 4:43:34. Posthuma finished second at 0:19, and Jerome Pineau (Bouygues Telecom) won the sprint for third at 0:33. Floyd Landis (Phonak) remains the overall leader.

The racing began early. Thierry Marichal (Cofidis) attacked in the first kilometer. He was reeled in, but Sandy Casar and Nicolas Crosbie (Agritubel) escaped at 17 km . Eight others joined the duo, and the 10 riders stayed away until 40 km . On the Category 1
Col Notre-Dame-des-Abeilles, Francis Mourey (Francaise des Jeux) and Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros) escaped, and David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Rodriguez joined them. At 58 km , Posthuma, Nicolas Portal (Caisse d?Epargne), Pineau, Stef Clement (Bouygues Telecom), and Mario Aerts (Davitamon) bridged up to the four leaders. The fugitives? lead maxed out at 4:15.

On the Corobin, Posthuma attacked, and Rodriguez, Contador, and Moncoutie followed. One km from the summit, Rodriguez countered. He stayed clear of Posthuma, who in turn managed to stay away from the chase group that Pineau led in.

In the overall, Landis leads Patxi Vila (Lampre) by 0:09 and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) by 1:13. Stage 6 will be another hard stage. The 179-km ride from Digne-les-Bains to
Cannes will feature eight categorized climbs, including the Category 2 Col du Tanneron at 159 km . Will Landis keep his lead? If not, who will overtake him? For the answers to these questions and others, check in at http://www.roadcycling.com/.