Race favourite Alexander Vinokourov lost ground in his bid to win the Tour de France when he failed to recover fully from a crash towards the end of the fifth stage on Thursday.

The Kazakh Astana leader crashed with 25-km remaining of the 182.5-km ride from Chablis to Autun and crossed the finish line one minute and 20 seconds behind stage winner Italian Filippo Pozzato.

Liquigas rider Pozzato out-sprinted Spaniard Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team with Italian Daniele Benatti coming home third for Lampre.  Swiss CSC rider Fabian Cancellara retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after finishing safe in the main pack.

“We managed to defend the jersey with the help of the Liquigas team, who deserve the stage win today,” Cancellara told reporters.

Vinokourov, who ripped his shorts and suffered grazing to his right buttock in the crash, tried to rejoin the peloton with the help of six team-mates but the collective effort failed to bear fruit and the Kazakh went solo to limit the damage.

The Astana team leader is now two minutes 10 seconds adrift of Cancellara. He trails team-mate Andreas Kloeden, who also crashed during the stage, by 1:53.

Belgian Philippe Gilbert, France’s Sylvain Chavanel and William Bonnet along with Giampaolo Cheula broke away after 19-km to build a 15-minute advantage. Gilbert and Chavanel went on their own 52-km from the line but were eventually caught by the main pack.