Hagen's victory was his sixth stage win of the season

Team Columbia's Edvald Boasson Hagen produced a stunning dash for the line for the second successive day to take the fifth stage of the Tour of Britain.

The Norwegian made his move 1500m out, outpacing Matt Goss and Danilo Di Luca.

Agritubel's Geoffroy Lequatre retained the yellow jersey but Britain's Steve Cummings is second, six seconds behind.

Ben Swift kept hold of the King of the Mountains jersey, while Goss and Roger Hammond are joint top of the points competition with three stages left.

Hagen said: "It was a difficult day and I really have to thank my team because they worked really hard to get me up to the front.

"There were three guys who made a break early and without the help of my team I probably would not have been able to catch up with them.

"But once I joined the break then I was always confident that I could get the win. I didn't know the peloton was close behind me but it all worked out.

"I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to get three in a row but I'll certainly be doing my best."

The guys at the front weren't a challenge to my king of the mountains jersey so I didn't need to chase them down Ben Swift

Goss set the early pace from the start in Hull and made a break after just eight kilometres but the peloton quickly dragged him back.

However, Goss was not to be denied and made another break alongside South Australia's Travis Meyer and Di Luca 20km later.

The trio opened up a gap of two minutes before Boasson Hagen and Victor Hugo Pena joined them at 53km.

They piled on the pressure to extend the gap to five minutes 40 seconds after 84km but by the time they entered the Dalby Forest hills for the first time the peloton started to drag them back.

The pace was too much for Meyer as the peloton closed the gap but 1,500m from the line Boassen Hagen made his decisive move.

However, Swift - who is from Rotherham - admitted his home stage through Yorkshire could not have gone any better despite failing to pick up any points in the climbers competition.

Closest rivals Kristian House and Di Luca failed to eat into his 10-point lead and with three stages left, Swift is confident he can win the polka dot jersey for the second successive year.

"The stage went perfectly for me - I'm only focusing on the King of the Mountains jersey now and the guys who were at the front weren't really a challenge to my jersey so I didn't need to chase them down," Swift said.

"After the climbs I could really focus on trying to get the stage win but we couldn't quite catch them.

"But in terms of the day I'm happy because I managed to keep hold of my jersey and hopefully I have saved my legs a little bit for the last three days."

Tour of Britain stage five results:

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia, 3hrs 46mins 23secs

2 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC-Saxo Bank, at 4secs

3 Danilo di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes, at 7secs

4 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) Rock Racing, at 11secs

5 Julian Dean (NZ) Team Garmin-Chipotle, at same time

6 Jonathan Bellis (GB) Team CSC-Saxo Bank, at same time

7 Ben Swift (GB) Great Britain, at same time

8 Roger Hammond (GB) Team Columbia, at same time

9 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes, at same time

10 Russell Downing (GB) Pinarello, at same time

Selected others:

16 Kristian House (GB) Rapha-Condor, 3hrs 46mins 34secs

22 Steve Cummings (GB) Barloworld, at same time

37 Ian Stannard (GB) Great Britain, at same time

67 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Columbia, at 4mins 54 secs

70 David Millar (GB) Team Garmin-Chipotle, at same time

75 Rob Hayles (GB) Great Britain, at same time

85 Geraint Thomas (GB) Barloworld, at same time

87 Chris Newton (GB) Rapha-Condor, at same time

General classification after stage 5:

1 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel, 17hrs 29mins 40secs

2 Steve Cummings (GB) Barloworld, at 6secs

3 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes, at 10secs

4 Ian Stannard (GB) Great Britain, at 11secs

5 Daniel Fleeman (GB) AnPost, at 13secs

6 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) AnPost, at 0.14secs

7 Dan Martin (Ire) Team Garmin-Chipotle, at same time

8 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Topsport, at 23secs

9 Emilien Berges (Fra) Agritubel, at 35secs

10 Russell Downing (GB) Pinarello, at 1min 24secs

Selected others:

11 Roger Hammond (GB) Team Columbia, at 1 min 40secs

12 Kristian House (GB) Rapha-Condor, at 1'44"

14 Jonathan Bellis (GB) Team CSC-Saxo Bank, at 1'49"

33 Ben Swift (GB) Great Britain, at 12'51"

67 Rob Hayles (GB) Great Britain, at 25'08"

68 David Millar (GB) Team Garmin-Chipotle, at 25'09"

77 Chris Newton (GB) Rapha-Condor, at same time

80 Geraint Thomas (GB) Barloworld, at 26'23"

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