PERPIGNAN, France, (Reuters) – Frenchman Thomas  Voeckler timed his move to perfection to clinch a maiden Tour de  France win after an early breakaway surprised the sprinters’  teams yesterday.

Bouygues Telecom rider Voeckler attacked a group of  breakaway riders with less than five kilometres to go in the  196.5-km fifth stage from Cap d’Agde to Perpignan and crossed  the line seven seconds ahead of Russian Mikhail Ignatiev.

“I waited for so long for this to happen I had almost ceased  to believe in my chances to win a Tour stage,” Voeckler told  reporters.

Briton Mark Cavendish won the peloton sprint to take third  place, also seven seconds adrift of Voeckler, according to  provisional results.

Swiss Fabian Cancellara retained the overall leader’s yellow  jersey after finishing safely in the pack and still leads  seven-times champion Lance Armstrong by a fraction of a second.

American Armstrong and Astana team mate Alberto Contador of  Spain had a quiet day.

“It was an interesting day. Everybody anticipated the wind  with what happened two days ago,” Armstrong told reporters.

“We stayed out of trouble.”

Frenchmen Anthony Geslin and Voeckler, Belarussian Yauheni  Hutarovich, Dutchman Albert Timmer, Ignatiev and Poland’s Marcin  Sapa broke away in the early stages and built a maximum gap of  nine minutes.

Cavendish’s Columbia team took control of the peloton too  late and despite getting help from Agritubel and  Garmin-Slipstream they failed to catch the breakaway group.

Dutch climber Robert Gesink crashed in the descent of the  Col de Treilles. He quickly got back on to his bike but despite  the help of two team mates, failed to catch the peloton.

With the wind blowing sideways, Cancellara’s Saxo Bank  stepped up a gear around 62 km from the finish.

“With the wind, we wanted to accelerate and split the  peloton for good but eventually we failed to do that. But I am  not disappointed, the team was there, that’s what matters,”  Cancellara told a news conference.

Giro winner Denis Menchov failed to keep up the pace but  later rejoined the leading pack, while former world champion Tom  Boonen, who suffered a puncture, had to wait until some 30 km  before the line to catch the group.

Gesink, with his elbow and knee bleeding, crossed the line  9:35 minutes after the main bunch and pulled out after a scan  revealed a fracture in his left wrist.

“He will not start the sixth stage,” organisers said in a  statement.