American Shawn Milne (Team Type 1) won Thursday's fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan, moving into second place behind Health Net's John Murphy. It was the first professional race victory for the team.

Milne won the Tour de Taiwan last year while on the Health Net team.

His victory on Thursday came in a field sprint at the end of the 92-mile Hsinchu City circuit race, the event's longest stage. Murphy was sixth, while also picking up three points and a two-second time bonus for his second place in an intermediate sprint. Murphy is leading the GC and the points competition.

Wesoly Marek (Merida Europe Team) finished second and Sung Baek Park (Seoul City Cycling Team) was third.

Team Type 1 sports director Ed Beamon said the Merida squad took control of the race with 10km to go, but Milne and the rest of the team played off Merida to launch Milne to the line.

"Our guys played it nearly perfectly at the end,” Beamon said.

Beamon said without an individual time trial, the Tour de Taiwan has shaped up to be a battle for the sprinters. Up until Thursday's stage, Murphy had held a commanding lead and was beginning to look impenetrable, he said.

“We really wanted to put pressure on Health Net since today and tomorrow were the only semi-long stages left,” Beamon said. “The roads are flat, but we were hoping for some wind, and we feel we have the endurance to race hard and put pressure on the other teams.”

Friday's stage is a 79-mile circuit race through Taipei County. The race concludes Sunday.