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This UNKNOWN Rule Just SAVED Jonas Vingegaard | Tour de France 2026 Stage 5

Lanterne Rougeautoenpublicupdated Jul 9, 2026, 06:35

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Stage setup and early moves

Stage 5 started in Lannemezan and finished in Pau, set up as a sprint stage with one categorized climb around 30 km from the finish.
Baptiste Fauré attacked alone, but no other riders joined because teams were focused on setting up their sprinters for the intermediate sprint.
Astana showed a strong lead-out pattern at the intermediate sprint, coming from behind on the open side with speed while Jasper Philipsen was again caught too far forward too early.
The general classification contenders, including Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, spent much of the stage relaxed near the back of the peloton.

On the climb, few teams tried to pressure the sprinters, and Visma-Lease a Bike took the first mountain points before Alex Baudin took the remaining point.
A small move formed with riders including Fred Wright and others monitoring, but it was quickly brought back before the finale.
The sprint field was still strong despite missing riders such as Jonathan Milan and Arnaud De Lie.

Inside the final 6 km, Cofidis lined out the bunch, likely working for Hugo Page, before a dangerous narrowing and chicane caused trouble before the 5 km safety rule applied.
A rider clipped a roadside barrier or hay bale, causing a crash and splitting the peloton before the 5 km mark, meaning affected riders could have been given their own time.
Vingegaard appeared to be behind the split and looking down at his bike, putting him at risk of losing time to the other GC contenders.
Because the gaps between riders stayed under the timing threshold, including a key Cofidis rider bridging the gap, Vingegaard was awarded the same time as the GC group instead of losing around 12 seconds to Pogacar.

Astana again executed a strong lead-out, shooting up the open right side with David Ballerini, Aaron Gate, Michael Valgren or Mike Teunissen, and Cees Bol or their sprinter positioned well.
Olav Kooij used the final corner cleverly to move onto Astana's train, avoided fighting too early for position, and waited to launch from the right wheel.
Philipsen and Tim Merlier were too far back when Kooij launched, leaving Kooij without an equal in the final sprint.
Olav Kooij won his first Tour de France stage, ahead of Kaden Groves or another Astana-linked sprinter, with Jasper Philipsen also among the top finishers.

There were no general classification changes after the stage, and Torstein Træen kept the yellow jersey.
The next stage features the Tourmalet, the only mountain stage of the first week, with around 17 km of climbing and a false-flat drag after the summit.