Christchurch rider Ben Airey has claimed the first Tour of Southland stage win of his career, holding off three breakaway companions in a sprint up Lumsden's main street at the end of Thursday's 178.5km fifth stage from Invercargill.

Airey, who rides for the PowerNet team, was part of a four-man group that got clear early and stayed in front for more than 100km. With him were Jack Drage of Creation Signs-Whoosh-NZ Cycling Project, Noah Hollamby of Onya Bike and Swiss rider Christoph Janssen of Open Country TES, according to the race organisers. Hollamby was named the day's most combative rider.

Race organisers said Airey had spent four months training in Andorra with this week in mind. Speaking after the finish, he said the win "means a lot". The Southland Tribune reported that the day's break began as a bit of a joke among the riders that morning before turning into the real thing.

Behind the escapees, the bunch was in no mood to chase hard. Overall leader Matthew Wilson's Advanced Personnel team spent the day protecting the orange jersey rather than hunting the stage, and Wilson crossed the line with his advantage intact. Average speeds across the week have been closer to 50kmh than 40kmh, the organisers said, which has made it difficult for breakaways to survive.

The official leaderboard after five stages has Wilson, a 25-year-old gravel and mountain bike professional from Cambridge, on 14 hours 4 minutes 38 seconds. Australian Ben Dyball of Macaulay Ford-GoodTech, a former grand tour rider who also heads the over-35 standings, is 1 minute 1 second back. Fellow Australian Levi Hone of Team Brennan, the leading under-23 rider, is third at 1 minute 10 seconds, with Finnegan Murphy of Latitude fourth at 1 minute 15 seconds and Invercargill's Jeremy Presbury fifth at 1 minute 31 seconds. The whole top 10 sits within three minutes of the lead.

Presbury, who won Monday's Gore stage, leads the King of the Mountain competition on 37 points from PowerNet's Ollie Jones on 29. Max Campbell of Macaulay Ford-GoodTech holds the sprint ace jersey on 35 points, two clear of George Jackson. Team Brennan leads the teams classification by two minutes from Macaulay Ford-GoodTech.

Wilson has twice finished runner-up in this race to Josh Burnett, most recently in January's rescheduled edition when he lost by less than 12 seconds. The Otago Daily Times reported Wilson saying on Wednesday that he liked his odds on the Bluff finish.

That test comes on Friday. Stage six covers 162km, rolling out from the Invercargill velodrome at 10am and finishing in Bluff at about 2.15pm, where the climb up Bluff Hill has decided many a Tour.

The 70th edition then wraps up on Saturday with two stages in one day. A 14km individual time trial starts and finishes on Eglinton Street in Winton from 10am, before the final 80km road stage leaves Winton at 1.30pm and finishes on Gala Street in Invercargill at around 3pm. Daily highlights are screening on TVNZ+ from 9.30pm and on the Tour of Southland website and YouTube channel.