August 1, 2003 (Claysburg, PA) – The fifth stage of  the International was held around the small town of Martinsburg. Taking riders through the rolling farm lands of the region, the relatively flat course still managed to fit in some tough rollers and had plenty of cross winds to make things interesting.

Both the men's and women's races saw a break go that the overall leader's teams were content to let sit out there, minimizing the work their leaders would have to do before tomorrow's big mountain stage. In the end, it was Saturn's Laura Van Gilder cleverly slipping away from her break of eight to win and in the men's race Brice Jones won the sprint of eight.

In the women's race, the eight woman break formed at about mile 20 and almost all teams were represented save for Diet Rite. With the point's jersey on the line, Diet Rite was forced to chase, but they were not able to contain the opening time gap with the motivated group up the road.  The highest placed rider in the break was Saturn's Van Gilder but at over nine minutes down, second place Genevieve Jeanson seemed content to let it go. After-all, Jeanson had her Rona teammate Erinne Willock up there sitting on. However, in a change of tactics, with a lap and a half to go in the eighty mile race, the Rona Team went to the front and chased hard to bring the break back. The time immediately began to fall, and soon only Van Gilder, T-Mobile's Laura Kroepsch, and Candice Blickem (Genesis Scuba) would work. As the time plummeted, Van Gilder seized an opportunity on the steepest of hills to attack. Only Willock was able to mark her.

Focusing only on the finish line, Van Gilder powered into the cross wind, slowly opening a gap on the merging field and break. Van Gilder stayed away to take the win over Willock. Kroepsch finished third just in front of Saturn's Ina Teutenberg. The overall remained unchanged with Bessette leading Jeanson by 27 seconds going into tomorrow's 100 mile very mountainous stage. Saturn's Van Gilder moved into the point's jersey and will start tomorrow in the green fleece.

The men's race also saw a break of eight clear the field early. The highest placed rider on the GC was Ben Jaques Manes. The break gained up to three minutes at one point, but the Navigators feathered the gap, bringing it to less than a minute in the final kilometers. Jones won the sprint, and for his effort in the break, Manes moved into third in the overall, ahead of Saturn's Tom Danielson. Navigator's Chris Baldwin leads the race and he and his Navigators Team will certainly face many threats in tomorrow's difficult stage as every team in the peloton will be throw a full onslaught of attacks at them.

Results Men (Unofficial) 1. Brice Jones – 7-UP

Women: 1. Laura Van Gilder – Saturn 2. Erinne Willock – Rona 3. Laura Kroepsch – T-Mobile 4. Ina Teutenberg – Saturn