The teams' squads were expected to be similar for both events, with the individual time trial which closes out the Tour of Oman providing for the only minor changes.

The TestTeam was penalized a minute due to Heinrich Haussler pushing Gabriel Rasch after taking a turn on the front.

The team protested the penalty, denying that the push was meant to gain any competitive advantage, with Haussler saying that it instead was to help Rasch avoid crashing.

[4] Almost straight away, when racing got underway, a group of two, Geert Steurs and Wouter Mol attacked and immediately got a few minutes over the peloton.

Golden jersey holder Edvald Boasson Hagen missed out on the breakaways and with approximately 40 km to go suffered a punctured tire which put him 11 minutes behind the lead group of riders.

Heading into the final kilometer, the lead group held 2 and a half minute advantage and it was Steurs who won the stage, but with Mol becoming the overall leader.

At that point, Cervélo TestTeam and Garmin–Transitions took the role of reeling the breakaway group back in, which they caught at the 107 km (66 mi) mark.

[7] It was Italian Francesco Chicchi claiming a final sprint to the line with Heinrich Haussler coming in second, and Juan José Haedo arriving third.

At the 40 km (25 mi) to go mark, the gap was just below two minutes as Vacansoleil was contributing the majority of the pace setting preserving the leader's golden jersey for Wouter Mol.

For the next 15 km (9.3 mi), the gap hovered around the 1 minute and 45 second mark with the sprinters teams holding back on making a move until later in the stage.

[10] Stage 5 came down to a sprint and for the second time in the Tour it was Tom Boonen claiming victory at the finish line.

While the victory gave him ten bonus seconds, the Belgian speedster still stood almost two minutes behind race leader Wouter Mol at day's end.