Jerome Cousin (Direct Energie) wins stage 5 Paris Nice.

Jerome Cousin (Direct Energie) plays poker and outsmart his co breakaway companion (Katusha-Alpecin) Nils Politt to win Paris Nice stage 5 in Sisteron, France.

 His cagey victory with the peloton charging behind, Cousin calmly waited until the final 200 metres to make his move, powering to the line well ahead of the German.

                 How it Unfolded 

The 165km stage from Salon-de-Provence to Sisteron looked on paper like another likely day for the sprinters.

The race included four categorised climbs, but with the final climb, the category 3 agent of Cote de la Marquise, topping out 13km from the finish, the sprinters' teams had this day marked down as another opportunity.

 Top ten General Classification result

1, Luis León Sanchez (Spain) Astana Pro Team 17:45:26,
2, Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:15,
 3, Julian Alaphilippe (France) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:26,
4,Marc Soler (Spain) Movistar Team,
 5, Gorka Izagirre (Spain) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:34,
6, Felix Grossschartner (Austra) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:35,
7, Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:42,
 8, Tim Wellens (Belgium) Lotto Soudal,
9, Sergio Henao (Colombia) Team Sky 0:00:48,
10, Esteban Chaves (Colombia) Mitchelton-Scott