The Briton, who claimed the yellow jersey following Wednesday's time trial, finished in sixth place on Friday. He sustained the pace in the final 10-km climb to Les Gets with Belgian Juergen van den Broeck the only rival trying to unsettle the Team Sky leader.

"(Edvald) Boasson Hagen and (Geraint) Thomas did a fantastic job marshalling the pack and I used them as much as possible (in the final climb)," Wiggins told reporters.

"Many riders have attacked to win the stage, not for the GC (general classification). It was not steep enough to build big gaps." Wiggins, who like most of the top guns, is using the Dauphine as a warm-up race before next month's Tour de France, leads Australian Cadel Evans by 1:11 and defending champion Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia by 1:21.

Wiggins expects to face sterner tests in Saturday's sixth stage, which features the demanding climbs to the Col du grand Cucheron and the Collet d'Allevard.

"We've always known it would be tough this weekend," he said.

"I've trained very well in the last couple of months so I knew I had a good chance to win this race. I believe in my condition, where I'm at at the moment.

"I proved it today." The day's laurels, however, went to Europcar rider Kern, who took charge of the race some three kilometers from the finish and fought off Dane Chris Anker Sorensen's challenge.

Saxo Bank-Sungard rider Sorensen finished seven seconds behind.

Kern's team mate Thomas Voeckler, the French champion, led a group of favorites to take third place nine seconds off the pace.

"I had been waiting for this victory for a long time," Kern, who had not raised his arms in celebration since 2004, told reporters.

"I must thank my team because they supported me when I had both knees injured earlier in the season, they did not rush me to come back." Belgian Andy Cappelle pulled out of the race after crashing 21 kilometers from the finish in an incident that also involved Irishman Nicolas Roche.

Roche got back to his bike badly bruised but Cappelle could not continue after suffering a possible collarbone fracture. He has been taken to a neighboring hospital with a head trauma, organizers said.

AG2R-La Mondiale manager Vincent Lavenu said Roche did not suffer any fracture despite the massive collision that happened on a large road with the peloton riding close to 70 kph.