The fight for the King of the Mountains jersey will go down to the penultimate stage as the break stayed away for a second successive day en-route to Le Ferre.

All week, the battle for the KOM jersey was leading up to today's longest stage. With the final climbs coming in the last two stages, the jersey's destination was always going to be decided on stages five and six.

But despite Pete Kibble picking up a solitary point, it was Adrien Lagree (Sosajun) who picked up enough points to leave Kibble five points behind, but well in reach with 32 points on offer heading into stage six.

Speaking about today's stage, Kibble said: "As a team we knew it was going to be a tough day to keep the jersey. But we rode dead aggressively and did everything in our power to get me up the road or in contention for the points."

Continuing, Kibble said: "I've got to give a massive thanks to the lads for the shift they put in for me today. Now it's onwards to try and regain my jersey tomorrow."

Like yesterday it was a breakaway of five which stayed away to the finish, and when the break hit the final straight for the last time it was Sergey Luchshenko (Astana City) taking the victory ahead of Fabien Lienhard (IAM Excelsior) and Adrien Lagree (Sosajun) in third.

After slipping out of the peloton inside the first 40km, Valentin Ferron (Selection Pays de Loire), Leo Danes (Nantes Atlantique), Lagree, Luchshenko, and Leinhard worked well together all the way to the finish.

For the academy lads it was another solid day - with the break up the road they worked hard on the front for 50km as they went all in to reduce the arrears so Kibble could have a chance on the final climbs of the day.

"I was really happy with how we rode today, protecting Pete all day," said Sam Tillett. "Personally, I got in some early moves but nothing stuck. As we hit the finishing circuit I was on the Belgian champs wheel as I moved up through the bunch," Tillett said.

Stages five and six were always going to pivotal in the battle for the KOM jersey. For head coach, Rob Partridge he was pleased with today's performance, saying: "I was pleased with the lads effort today, with the chase on they were totally committed to the cause and that was great to see."

With all to play for on stage six, Partridge is looking forward to seeing how his team will react on what will be a big day out: "We've still got everything to play for and moving into tomorrow's stage I want the lads to get stuck in and make something happen."