Stage 5 is on paper the queen stage of the race. The most cobbled sections are on the course today and we also have some of the iconic Flemish bergs to go across. With the last stage being a sprint stage this here should be the one that decides the big prize.
There was a big battle to get into the breakaway today as we now join the coverage 40 km into the stage. These are the 14 riders that made it:
Castellon
Piganzoli
Touze
Dalby
Howson
Sterbini
Vanthourenhout
Crowley
Vainionpää
Rogora
Pagtalunan
Arashiro
The riders in the breakaway have scarce KOM points to their name before today, but there are enough points on the road for someone to claim the KOM title. Vanthourenhout starts with 10 points.
Touze scores 6 points next which brings him up to 13. Meanwhile Pagtalunan has already been jettisoned and Sterbini is flagging behind.
Looking at the peloton McCormick does have to work today for the race leader, but they're also getting ample assistance from Duvel. The gap to the breakaway is around 4 minutes.
Vanthourenhout shows his strength on the next cobbled KOM, but Touze is right next to him. These two are at 21 and 20 points and look to be the most likely to challenge for the final KOM classification.
Just a little later Touze punctures and Vanthourenhout knows what's up and puts Howson to work at the front. The Frenchman made it back in too long of time, but definitely used up some energy.
Touze is better on the asphalt climbs and is now up to 26 points.
75 km from the finish the Muur van Geraardsbergen is an important part of some race in some universe, but here now it's important for Vanthourenhout as he gets back within one point of the Frenchman.
The Muur did some damage after all as only a group of 31 riders make it over the top at the front.
We have multiple riders rolling attacks one after another which has strung out this group of favourites. The gap to the breakaway is close to 2 minutes now.
Back at the front Touze wins the sprint up the Valkenburg which puts him only a point out of the virtual lead.
In the peloton as we'll call it the attacks have finally broken through with 3 riders separating themselves:
Moritz Tediashvili Teggart
Vanthourenhout hasn't given up on the KOM just yet as he surprises Touze and Arashiro and forges ahead by himself.
Touze can only watch as Vanthourenhout claims 6 points, but he's done enough to be #1 on points now and the last 6-4-2 points available are still 20 km away.
Stallaert attacks over the top of the Eikenberg and takes Nareklishvili with him.
The Tediashvili group catches the remaining breakaway riders sans Vanthourenhout. Teggart at the moment is struggling to hold on to this group.
Stallaert is pushing hard, but Tediashvili was also content to slow down and wait for his teammate. This group has 1'24'' over the peloton which is being paced by Van Aert and Eekhoff.
Vanthourenhout is caught as we now have a group of 10 riders on the Molenberg with the peloton close behind.
Stallaert has been doing pretty much all the work so far, only now have the Zalgiris duo come to the front. 26 km to the finish.
Tediashvili gets over the top of the Berendries and that spells the end of our KOM competition.
Nareklishvili attacks with 20 km to go and Stallaert counters!
Zepuntke attacked from the group of favourites which sprung everyone into a chase and we're all back together now.
Van der Poel now attacks! U25 leader and 3rd overall Bonello is the one trying to follow
Girmay makes the effort to pull things back together on the penultimate cobbled sector. 13 km to the finish.
Moulingui tries his luck taking Nareklishvili and Louvel with him. Race leader Hecht is for whatever reason trying to chase this move down.
Moulingui and Louvel start the Eikenberg with a 20'' gap to the rest.
They got caught before the top and we're now looking for a sprint finish in Oudenaarde.
Kasperkiewicz goes long on this technical finish which is all about positioning.
But Kasperkiewicz is not the best sprinter and he can't hold off... guess who?! It's Daniel Bonello who takes the win! The Pole comes 2nd followed by another surprise name Stedman.
Not only does Daniel Bonello win the stage, but with the bonus seconds he moves into the GC lead and unless something strange happens tomorrow he's going to walk away with as a most unlikely overall victor!
Benelux Challenge - Stage 5 
