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Before you think about placing a wager on Stage 5 of the Tour de France that will take place on Thursday, July 5, from Rouen to Saint-Quentin, you need to read the BookMaker sportsbook betting preview. Our writers provide all the injuries, matchups and analysis to handicap all the 2012 Tour de France betting lines. Check it out below!

Tour de France Stage 5 Winner

Crashes were once again the story on Day 5 of the 2012 Tour de France, and once again German Andre Greipel emerged victorious.

This marks the second straight stage Greipel has won, and he did so by breaking away from the pack with just 110 yards left in the race to cross the finishing line before second place finisher Matt Goss of Australia. Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina was right behind them for the third-place finish.

Stage 5 from Rouen to St-Quentin (122 miles) is catered toward sprinters for one of the final times before heading towards the more hilly stages in the mountains.

Heading into Stage 6, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland maintains the overall lead and yellow jersey for the sixth straight day.

Tour de France Betting Odds: Sprinters are blessed with another flat stage in the fifth leg of the 2012 Tour de France.

Stage 5 will cover 197 kilometers, starting in Rouen where Stage 4 ended. As the group approached the sub prefecture of Aisne, the speedsters are going to do some major drafting with their teams.

Saint-Quentin has served as a stage town on Tour two times before. Robbie McEwen won here in 2006 and cycling analysts expect to see another exciting sprint finish at the Champs-Élysées Park. Don't bet on anyone but a sprinter to be wearing the Yellow Jersey after Stage 5.

The 2012 Tour de France will take place from Saturday, June 30 to Sunday, July 22. This will mark the 99th edition of the historic cycling race that began in 1903. The epic journey will begin in the Belgian city of Liege and end on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The Tour de France consists of one prologue and 20 stages, which covers a total distance of 3,479 kilometers. The race will feature nine flat stages and two individual time trials. There will be three summit finishes among the five mountain stages and four medium-mountain stages. Two rest days are built in to this year's event and there is no team time-trial stage.

Two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will not be competing in this year's race after testing positive for the banned drug Clenbuterol in early February. He was stripped of his 2010 Tour title and suspended for two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Last year, Cadel Evans captured his first Yellow Jersey by traversing through the Alps and the reaching the highest summit finish in Tour de France history. Evans was the first Australian to win the coveted race.

Andy Schleck, who was awarded the 2010 Tour title after it was vacated by Contador, finished runner-up to Evans in 2011. Schleck's brother, Frank, finished third. Mark Cavendish was crowned winner of the points classification while Samuel Sanchez of Spain won the King of the Mountains category.

Because there are three time trials totaling 96.1 kilometers, cycling experts contend that this year's profile heavily favors clock specialists. And even though Contador won't be racing, he has given gamblers a prediction to chew on.

"It will be a race in which you have to attack, which is not a bad thing. It is more for the riders that go very strong in the time trials," said Contador. "This is a course that favors the winner of last year, Cadel Evans."

Evans is currently going off as the 2012 Tour de France favorite with +190 odds. Bradley Wiggins, who won the Paris-Nice, is another complete rider and he is the second-favorite at +350. Other time trial specialists are Denis Menchov and Tony Martin and they are priced at +1000 and +6600, respectively.

Even though Andy Schleck is a climber and there are only three uphill finishes in this year's trek, he has the third-lowest odds to win the 2012 Tour at +400. Brother Frank currently holds +4000 odds.

Tour de France director, Christian Prudhomme, leaves cycling bettors with this little nugget:

"So let us make a bet that the very significant increase in the number of time trials will not ensure the impunity of the best riders," Prudhomme said in a statement. "In any event, the climbers and puncheurs whose abilities are limited in this exercise know what is required of them: if they don't attack, there will be no victories for them on the roads of the 2012 Tour."

At BookMaker online sportsbook, you can bet on head-to-head Tour de France matchups as well as props, futures and moneylines. Do your biking homework and start cashing your Tour de France betting lines now!

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• Prologue
  
• Stage 1
  
• Stage 2
  
• Stage 3
  
• Stage 4
  
• Stage 5
  
• Stage 6
  
• Stage 7
  
• Stage 8
  
• Stage 9
  
• Stage 10
  
• Stage 11
  
• Stage 12
  
• Stage 13
  
• Stage 14
  
• Stage 15
  
• Stage 16
  
• Stage 17
  
• Stage 18
  
• Stage 19
  
• Stage 20
  

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