AUTUN, France (AFP) - Italy's Filippo Pozzato (Liguigas) won a sprint finish to the fifth stage of the Tour de France, a 182.5km run between Chablis and here on Thursday.

Fabien Cancellara (CSC), winner of the prologue and the third stage, retained the yellow jersey with a 33sec lead over Andreas Kloden in the overall standings after a stage marked by a high speed crash suffered by Alexandre Vinokourov which cost the race favourite over a minute.

Pozzato, 25. was adding this to his only other stage win on the Tour three years ago.

He beat home Spain's Oscar Freire and Italy's Daniele Bennati.

The first real day of climbing on the race - ahead of the first day in the Alps Saturday - was again brought to life by Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel of Cofidis.

Chavanel first tried to attack at the 13km mark, was reeled in four kilometres later but finally managed to break free before the 20km mark.

He was joined by fellow Frenchman William Bonnet and Belgium Philippe Gilbert, and together they went on to build a lead which topped 14 minutes before being reduced drastically towards the end of the stage.

Behind them Giampaolo Chuela of Barloworld was trying to catch up, but was finding the job difficult on his own.

Chavanel led Gilbert and Bonnet over the first two climbs of the day, taking the points which would assure he pulled on the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey at the expense of teammate Stephane Auge.

By the time they had descended the second climb at Domecy-sur-Cure, after 53km of racing, the leading trio held a 14 minute lead.

Chuela finally ended his long solo ride by Chavanel's group at the 60km mark, and shortly afterwards Chavanel continued his domination of the day's climbs by leading the group over the category three Champignolles-le-Bas.

The peloton soon begun to close the gap, reducing their deficit to 11 minutes. However the turn of pace on the tight roads of Burgundy took its toll.

Milram's Australian sprinter, Brett Lancaster, found the going too tough and pulled out of the race, while further up the road Spaniard Iban Mayo and Belgian Leif Hoste were among the early crashes, both getting back on their bikes to continue.

The second significant crash of the day involved Andreas Kloden, the Astana rider falling into a ditch but riding off without apparent injuries and being brought him back to the peloton by two teammates.

The four race leaders meanwhile lost Bonnet on their way to the day's main climb, the 12.9km long Haut Folin.

A few kilometres from the summit Chuela also peeled off, leaving Chavanel and Gilbert, of Francaise des Jeux, on their own but with over 40km to race and barely two minutes on the peloton their task looked impossible.

Drama also unfolded behind them, however, with Vinokourov hitting the ground at speed in the company of Kloden with 25km to go.

Both riders got back on their bikes, but Vinokourov was visibly upset.

Chavanel and Gilbert meanwhile continued working at the front in an ultimately vain bid to hold off their chasers who duly reeled them back in to set up the final dash for the line.

Friday's sixth stage is a 199.5km run from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse.