Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) received a nice birthday present Thursday as he steered clear of a nasty crash that KO’d classics candidate Magnus Backstedt (Slipstream-Chipotle) and won stage 5 of the Tour of Qatar ahead of race leader Tom Boonen (Quick Step).

While Backstedt wound up with a broken right clavicle, barrel-chested Napolitano bolted ahead of Boonen’s derailed train to snag his first win over Boonen, who retained the overall lead over teammate Steven De Jongh with just one day to go.

“I was in good position today and I was able to finish off the job,” said Napolitano, who celebrated his 27th birthday with a podium view. “I didn’t think it was possible to beat Boonen as he’s on top of his game this week. In fact, this is the first I’ve ever beaten him in a sprint. I saw some hesitation and just went for it.”

Alberto Loddo (Tinkoff), winner of Wednesday’s stage, came through second with Boonen taking third, widening his lead to 17 seconds over De Jongh.

After winning the first three stages, Quick Step couldn’t get its train on the rails during the finale to the windy and fast 170km stage, the longest of the seventh edition of the Qatar tour.

“We were unorganized from the start and couldn’t get it on the right track. The crash was behind me but it did affect us by disrupting our approach,” Boonen said. “I lost the wheel of De Jongh and it looked like he might have a chance to win, but when I saw Napolitano go, it was too late to even start my sprint.”

Worse off was Backstedt, who suffered a broken right clavicle that could imperil his classics program, though he is expected to be okay in time for the April monuments.

“It was a matter of bad luck. I was moving up on the right side of the bunch and just happened to look down to make sure Julian (Dean) and Chris (Sutton) were still with me. Just in that instant, (Wouter) Weylandts pulled off and slid into me,” Backstedt said. “There was nothing I could and the next thing I know I’m on the ground. I knew right away it was broken. I tried to move it and all it did was make a grinding sound.”

Dean and Sutton also went down in the mess, and later an angry Dean stamped down on his broken helmet at the finish line. The team was flying and felt it was their best shot at a stage victory so far in the six-day Qatar tour.

“We were setting up the sprint and we were in perfect position near the front and things were getting ardgy-bardgy at 70kph and Magnus went up the back of one of the Quick Step guys,” said Sutton, who landed hard on his elbow, leaving his right hand numb. “After that, it happened quick. Maggie just of a sudden went down. It was just a click of the wheels and that was it. That's racing. Today I was feeling really good. The team was working for me to perfection. I thought today we were going to get it.”

Also getting caught up in the tangle of bikes and bodies was Tony Cruz (BMC), who couldn’t avoid getting pushed into the gutter after being glued to Dean’s wheel.

“Julian was trying to keep it up and I was right on his wheel. We both went down. I wasn’t banged up too badly, but I really felt good today and I really wanted to try to go for the win,” Cruz said. “I was talking to Sutton earlier in the stage and he said they were going to try to set up their train, so I took note when I saw them organizing with about 1km to go.”

Friday’s final stage is a 120km run from Al Wakra to Doha, where Qatar’s ruling emir will be waiting to watch the final sprint.