With just four victories so far, compared to many more in years before, Robbie McEwen's Tour de France form was a little suspect. On Wednesday in Giubiasco, the pocket-rocket from Predictor-Lotto took a vital step in his quest for a fourth maillot vert by triumphing on Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse.

It wasn't easy, however, the 34-year-old veteran Aussie sprinter having to use each and every part of his compact, muscled frame as he fought with his bike more than anything else to eventually overcome Lampre-Fondital's Daniele Bennati and Milram's Erik Zabel, stage winner last Sunday.

"It was a very tough sprint because it was uphill and I felt I was starting to slow down towards the end," conceded McEwen.

"In the last kilometers, the two guys that helped me most were Leif Hoste and Fred Rodriguez: Hoste was able to keep Freddy and I out of the wind till about 600 meters to go, where we were about fifth and sixth position, and I just told him [Rodriguez] to hit the front and go for it.

"I stayed about two or three lengths behind him so I could make a run towards him, and when I saw the shadows from behind come towards me, that's when I started my sprint," said McEwen.

With virtually his entire year centered around the Tour de France, the Australian said it isn't so much the number of wins he's accumulated before the first week in July, but the quality of his victories.

"It's my fifth win; it's not a huge number, but four ProTour wins is significant. Every stage race I ride in, I hope to win a stage, and so far that's been the case this year," McEwen said.

A consequence of the sprint finish saw no changes of note to the overall classification, and CSC's Frank Schleck, who inherited yellow the day before, still tops the leader board.

"For CSC, we wanted to have a break with a maximum of six riders who were not a threat to the overall classification," said Schleck. "So when the two guys went away, that was a perfect scenario for us."

Hesitant to say much yesterday, the current race leader also chose to comment on the UCI's new anti-doping charter: "Anything which is done to promote our sport and keep it clean is okay with me. Mind you, CSC has its own anti-doping program, so within the team, we are already fighting against doping."

49 seconds is the margin between the Luxembourger and the two men below him: Caisse d'Epargne's Vladimir Efimkin and T-Mobile's Kim Kirchen. However, with what lies ahead, things could easily change.

"It will be very hard, but I'm already happy to have this maillot," said Schleck about Thursday's 191 kilometer leg to Crans-Montana. "Much depends on what happens during the stage."

Early attacks
On an early Wednesday, summer afternoon, new maillot jaune Schleck led a 156-strong peloton out of Vaduz shortly before one, minus Rabobank's Mauricio Ardila, who chose not to sign in this morning.

A very fast start saw a number of lone breakaway attempts quickly brought back, before a group of seven went clear after roughly 19 kilometers, among them T-Mobile's GC man Michael Rogers, who faltered on the climb to Triesenberg-Malbun the day before and lost almost four minutes to stage winner Schleck.

But that too was short-lived, until Saunier Duval's Rubens Bertogliati and Unibet's Laurens Ten Dam were given the freedom to go. The duo made an impact straight away, and by the crest of the third-category climb to Flims at kilometer 58.5, the duo had amassed a massive nine-minute lead over the groupe maillot jaune.

Without taking anything away from the pair, their advantage wasn't surprising, as neither presented a threat to those high on the overall classification; Ten Dam was the best-placed in 34th position, 7:03 down on Schleck. With a century of kilometers covered, their 8:25 advantage equated to the two being three-kilometers further up the road.

Eight kilometers from the top of the 29 kilometer-long Lukmanier Pass, Bertogliati was forced to let his lighter companion go, and over the 1,940 meter-high summit, Ten Dam was five minutes ahead of the man who once accompanied him, and a handy 9:19 ahead of the peloton, led by mountains leader Alessandro Proni of Quick Step-Innergetic.

The long descent would see the peloton's natural momentum eat into Ten Dam's advantage, but the Dutchman was holding his own, and wasn't giving up without a fight to the death. However, despite holding a 6'50 lead with 50k to go, it looked like the latter would be the outcome as the rider faced a headwind to Giubiasco.

Explained McEwen: "As things went in my favor with just two guys in the escape, the sprinters' teams just kept the time gap under control. I said to my guys, 'if I'm still in the peloton after the Lukmanier, then we would start to help in the chase'. Knowing there's only two chances in the whole tour, everybody was really determined to make it a sprint finish today."

Sure enough, 13 clicks from the line, the Dutchman exhaled his last breath out front before he became part of the Milram-led peloton. But the team of Zabel lacked the control of two days ago which saw the German victorious, and under the kilometer kite, the stage was still anyone's.

In these times of chaos, one man tends to thrive when others start ducking for cover. With 300 meters remaining, McEwen launched his sprint and muscled his way to victory ahead of Bennati and Zabel, passing a very important stepping stone in his bid for a fourth Tour de France green jersey.

With no more sprint stages remaining, how long he'll hang around for is anyone's guess, but McEwen could probably use a little extra 'training' before arriving in London on July 7 with all guns blazing.

"I'm just taking it day-to-day and seeing how I'm feeling," he said. "Obviously, it's a very important time for me with the Tour de France, and I want to make myself tired to get a good training effect, but I don't want to push myself over the edge.

"The main objective for me is to ride myself into form, so I'm at my best in the first week of the Tour."

The road ahead - It’s not easy. At 191 kilometers, it's another long day in the saddle, but it's more what lies between start and finish that provides cause for concern. The hors catégorie Nufenenpass is likely to break the bunch, but if it doesn't, the finale to Crans-Montana will. Like Tuesday's finish to Triesenberg-Malbun, the Category 2 rating doesn't do the climb justice; maybe if enough pairs of legs snap tomorrow, the race organizers might just have a rethink.

Results – Stage 5
1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Predictor-Lotto 192.8km in 4:55:39 (39.127kph)
2. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre-Fondital
3. Erik Zabel (G), Milram
4. Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra), Liquigas
5. Cristian Moreni (I), Cofidis
6. Gregory Rast (Swi), Astana
7. Marcus Burghardt (G), T-Mobile
8. David Kopp (G), Gerolsteiner
9. Martin Elmiger (Swi), Ag2r
10. Sebastien Hinault (F), Credit AgricoleOverall
1. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC, 749,7km in 19:28:03 (38.505kph)
2. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:49
3. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-Mobile, at 0:49
4. Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Sp), Saunier Duval, at 0:58
5. Matteo Carrara (I), Unibet, at 1:05
6. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, at 1:19
7. Xavier Florencio Cabre (Sp), Bouygues Telecom, at 1:39
8. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre-Fondital, at 1:46
9. Stijn Devolder (B), Discovery, at 2:03
10. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, at 2:06Check back soon for results, photos and a complete report from VeloNews.com's Anthony Tan.