2026 Tour de France: Stage 5 Results

In his first appearance in the race, Dutch sprinter Olav Kooij win Stage 5 of the 2026 Tour de France after a day dominated by a solo breakaway by Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché). No change took place in the G.C. battle.

As we tune into race coverage, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) is out front on a solo breakaway. The race is about 30km underway and Veistroffer leads the peloton by a little over 3 minutes.

This 158.3km, mostly flat stage from Lannemezan to Pau is expected to be a day for the sprinters. There is only one categorised climb to overcome, Côte de Baleix (cat. 3), whose summit lies just over 25 kilometres away from the finish.

It was another hot day  in southern France with temperatures pushing above 100F.

Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility), after seizing his opportunity in yesterday’s huge breakaway, starts today in the maillot jaune.

With his successful breakaway on Tuesday, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) leads the points classification with 103 points. The Danish powerhouse made the most of the Foix stage to open significant gaps in the standings: 48 points on Tadej Pogacar, and 59 on Jonas Vingegaard.

Also in the break yesterday was Mathias Vacek, who took over the white jersey for best young rider.

Uno-X Mobility started the day pacing the bunch, but now it was Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) taking their time at the front.

51 km in, Veistroffer is still sitting 2’35” in front of the peloton. It’s safe to say that the Frenchman is a breakaway specialist. A former triathlete, Veistroffer turned his focus to \in 2020 and made his professional racing debut in 2024 with the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team. Since being signed by Lotto Intermarché in 2025, he has made a name for himself with his numerous breakaways, for example at Milano – Sanremo, the Tour of Turkey, the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, the Boucles de la Mayenne and the Grand Prix La Marseillaise.

Veistroffer did not even expect to be riding the Tour de France this year. While he undertook an epic bikepacking adventure in Thailand on his gravel bike at the end of the 2025 season, building his engine for the 2026 season, he told journalists that he did not feel ready for the tour: “No way. I don’t think I’m ready for that challenge yet. It doesn’t even cross my mind. I might ride a Grand Tour, but it won’t be the Tour de France.”

With the stage well past the halfway point, Veistroffer still leads the cruising peloton by 3’16”.

Veistroffer, of course, took 25 points at the intermediate sprint at km 110. Kanter, Pedersen and Girmay took the remnants.

With 41km remaining, Veistroffer now leads by just over 2 minutes.

As noted earlier, the only categorized climb for today is the Cat. 3 Côte de Baleix (1km @ 8.8%), but there looks to be two other similar climbs just before it. All told, it’s a succession of six lumps over 28 kilometres adding up to a total elevation gain of around 550 metres. Although the route passes through several villages, most of the roads are fairly wide and comfortable for the peloton.

“There are some slightly steeper climbs towards the end,” Dorian Godon (Netcompany Ineos) observed at the start. “Perhaps a team will want to shake off the sprinters in the heat, but I think it’ll be a classic sprint stage.”

38km to go and Veistroffer still led by 1’53”. Behind him, the Soudal Quick-Step and Alpecin-Premier Tech teams, riding for their respective sprinters Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen, are setting the pace and doing the bulk of the work in the peloton.

Veistroffer took the top KOM points on Côte de Baleix while Baudin bested Molenaar to defend his polka-dot jersey. Over the top of  the climb, Fred Wright attacked with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) following.

With a little over 20km remaining, Veistroffer’s lead had eroded. Wright, Asgreen and Paret-Peintre were just 17 seconds back and the peloton was within 40 seconds.

The chasers were caught by the surging peloton, which was now just 10 seconds back from the leader. With the catch being imminent, it was announced that Veistroffer won the day’s combativity award.

With 14km remaining, the peloton was all together. As expected, the GC leaders were tucked safely in with their teammates, but the sprint teams were beginning to get into position.

Cofidis and Uno-X were both showing at the front of the peloton. 6km remained. Netcompany Ineos, Groupama-FDJ United, Bahrain Victorious and Alpecin-Premier Tech were also in there.

Ron

Ron is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.

Websites:

Bike World News
Ron’s Bike Garage

Current Bike Quiver:

Bird Bikes Zero 29 29″ hardtail mountain bike
Commencal Absolut 26″ Dirt Jump/Pump Track bike
Commencal Tempo 29″ full suspension mountain bike
Felt ZA 700c race bike
Kona Kilauea vintage 26″ mountain bike
Niner RLT9 700c road/gravel bike
Specialized Stumpjumper vintage 26″ mountain bike

Day Job: Digital Marketing

Night Job: Digital Marketing, eCommerce Consultant, Web Consultant, Bike Shop Operator, Husband, Dad, Tenor

www.bikeworldnews.com