OFFICIAL Stage 5 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Tour de France Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: B

 

I rate today’s stage a B. Most of the stage was mediocre, but it was a fantastic sprint with a somewhat surprising outcome.

 

Route: 2/5         GC: 1/5             Tactics: 2/5       Sprint: 5/5         Surprises: 2/5

 

 

The first bunch sprint in a grand tour, especially the Tour de France, and we know there’s going to be a crash. Halfway through the stage, I decided to check the roadbook. The final kilometers looked safe. A sharp left turn just before the flamme rouge, the final-kilometer-point. But on Streetview it looked wide and predictable. I suspected a crash would happen, it always does, but I didn’t see a reason for it other than “it happens.”

 

It did happen, and just outside the five kilometer marker. Within five kilometers, and the sprint stage protocol applies: riders losing time because of a crash are given the same time as the riders in the group they were in when the crash happened.

 

Torsten Træen, in the yellow jersey, was one of the riders down. I never saw it but I saw the road rash when he crossed the finish line. He was right behind Jonas Vingegaard, who I believe was held up but had not gone down.

 

Despite this happening outside the sprint zone, Træen lost less time than we thought. For a while we had hoped that Sean Quinn would end up in the yellow jersey tonight, but Træen was given the same time as Quinn. This was not, as you might think, because the King of Norway called Christian Prudhomme, the Tour race director. No, it’s just the UCI’s fairly new rule that a three second gap must exist between riders in a bunch sprint stage, or they get the same time. Riders trickled in behind Tadej Pogačar in 21^st place, but never more than two seconds between them. Edward Planckaert, in 80^th place, was the first rider not given the same time: he lost 26 seconds to the rider just seconds in front of him, teammate Tim Marsman. UCI logic.

 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good rule. Instead of packing the whole peloton together in the mad aftermath of a bunch sprint, you allow them to string out. Safer. And fortunate for Træen.

 

I can’t write much about the bunch sprint. Olav Kooij was probably not the fastest rider today. He didn’t have a lead-out train. But he won in dominating fashion. On the finish photo there is no other rider in sight, just him, as if he won solo. Because he, too, had looked at the roadbook and had seen that corner at 1,100 meters. That’s where he wanted to be in position, and at 1,400 meters you see him steaming to the front, and then freewheeling to avoid being at the front. He comes through that turn and the XDS Astana Team is going full gas from there. He sees Max Kanter in front of him and decides: my wheel. Milan Fretin wanted the same wheel but without getting too physical, Kooij bullies Fretin out of the way. From there, more than 200 meters out, Kooij just want “as hard as he could” — as he explains it. Behind him, everyone had to go through the wind to catch up. Which they didn’t.

 

Okay. Baptiste Veistroffer. I had never heard of him before last week, but an error in my spreadsheet popped up his name. He specializes in long breakaways. Today, he went solo for 144 kilometers. Do you have any idea how hard it is to do that? “The sprint teams allowed the riders in the breakaway a two-minute lead.” Sure, but they had to pedal for it. For 144 kilometers Veistroffer, by himself, maintained an average of nearly 28 mph. I can do that for a minute or so, and certainly not over a category 3 climb like Veistroffer did. And certainly not in 100° weather.

 

I just mean to say, my hat is off to Veistroffer today.

 

There were plenty of focus rider candidates today, but I picked Ion Izagirre. A Basque rider and perhaps there are Basque sprinters or otherwise cyclists from there who aren’t pure climbers, but I can’t think of any. In the Basque country, like most of Spain, there are no bits of flat roads. Every road goes up, I don’t even think they have descents over there.

 

I’m looking at Izagirre’s professional wins and they’re all in the mountains. But he was also twice the Spanish national champion in the individual time trial, and that explains what I saw today: drilling it at the front of the peloton in the final kilometers, setting up Milan Fretin. Maybe he’s always done that, I’ve never noticed it before and it still looked odd: Izagirre is the shortest rider on the Cofidis team by an inch, and Cofidis gave him bib number 161; meaning they think he can ride for the general classification.

 

But here he was, punching hard in the front, taking the wind for his teammate. Cycling is a team sport. Fretin took eighth today, he got boxed in when it mattered; Izagirre finished 68^th: zero points for Team Cameron* who have him on their team.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE.

Watch the FloBikes highlights HERE.

Watch NBC Sports’ Extended highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

Spoiler alert: only four teams moved in the standings today. Team Josh and Team Hugo traded, as did Team Matthew and Team Charles (again); everyone else remained where they were.

 

Mathias Vacek, I mentioned him yesterday, is getting Team Josh a lot of points. Third in the general classification and first in the youth competition. Most points from classifications for Team Josh, most points from the stage (thanks to Dorian Godon), most riders in the Top-25 (ten), and most points in total: a stage victory for them.

 

Team Ansel took a solid second today, just ahead of Team Charles. Team Hugo and Team Tadej tied for fourth, and Team Amalia took sixth. Team Oliver grabbed seventh and Team Caleb and Team Matthew tied again, this time at eighth.

 

The rest missed the boat today: Team Grace in tenth, Team Cameron in eleventh, Team Wesley in twelfth.

 

Stage 6 all of a sudden takes us high into the mountains. A couple of lesser climbs lead to the first of two Pyrenees classics: le Col d’Aspin, 12 kilometers at 6.5%, a category 1 climb. From there to the main event of the day: le Col du Tourmalet, the biggest climb of the 2026 Tour de France, 17.2 kilometers at 7.3%. But we jest: the second half of the climb is over 9%. It remains if not the hardest then the most infamous climb in all of cycling. And just to make sure a real champion wins stage 6 of the Tour de France, we finish on top of the climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre. The organizers have classified that as a category 2 climb, so we have one of each on Thursday.

 

This of course is the kind of race where Tadej Pogačar is going to want to show he is the boss. But it’s not that simple. Jonas Vingegaard is possibly the only creature on earth who can keep up with Pogačar on a climb like the Tourmalet. It wouldn’t surprise me if they came over the top side-by-side. If so, it is that category 2 climb to the finish that will decide. If either of them go into the valley after the Tourmalet with a teammate, then that rider will win the 2026 Tour de France. And UAE Team Emirates – XRG have looked unbeatable on that front. Pogačar can take Isaac del Toro with him, or Brando McNulty, or both, or more.

 

Stage 6 of the Tour will be won by Tadej Pogačar, he will be in yellow after tomorrow, and he’ll stay in yellow for the rest of the year.

 

Standings after stage 5:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Tadej*	1131	1	0
2	Team Ansel*	1103	2	0
3	Team Josh*	1098	4	1
4	Team Hugo*	1056	3	-1
5	Team Caleb*	940	5	0
6	Team Charles*	930	7	1
7	Team Matthew*	901	6	-1
8	Team Amalia*	791	8	0
9	Team Oliver*	781	9	0
10	Team Wesley*	604	10	0
11	Team Grace*	431	11	0
12	Team Cameron*	338	12	0

 

Standings after stage 5 (including dogs and adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Tadej*	1131	1	0
2	Team Amelia	1130	1	-1
3	Team Kent	1109	3	0
4	Team Ansel*	1103	6	2
5	Team Josh*	1098	8	3
6	Team Kari	1071	5	-1
7	Team Hugo*	1056	7	0
8	Team Melanie	1054	10	2
9	Team Eric	1021	9	0
10	Team Rob	1013	11	1
11	Team Jonwaine	1008	4	-7
12	Team Kurt	1000	16	4
13	Team Craig	999	12	-1
14	Team Jon	991	13	-1
15	Team Julie	978	14	-1
16	Team Laurens	944	18	2
17	Team Caleb*	940	17	0
18	Team Charles*	930	22	4
19	Team Ed	923	21	2
20	Team Corsa	918	19	-1
21	Team Matthew*	901	20	-1
22	Team Jonathan	867	15	-7
23	Team Kate	837	26	3
24	Team Ellie	836	24	0
25	Team Ambrose	835	31	6
26	Team Grace	830	25	-1
27	Team Charlotte	810	23	-4
28	Team Amalia*	791	33	5
29	Team Adam	790	28	-1
30	Team Oliver*	781	34	4
31	Team Cameron	767	30	-1
32	Team Erin	755	27	-5
33	Team Furner	728	29	-4
34	Team Suzanne	723	32	-2
35	Team Wesley	717	36	1
36	Team Allison	715	35	-1
37	Team Lichterman	692	37	0
38	Team Wesley*	604	38	0
39	Team Izzy	583	39	0
40	Team Senna#	578	40	0
41	Team Valerie	451	42	1
42	Team Grace*	431	41	-1
43	Team Cameron*	338	43	0
44	Team Sam	319	44	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 5:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	113	20	3	0	3	26	139	652	791
Team Ansel*	136	23	12	0	6	41	177	926	1103
Team Caleb*	81	21	7	0	4	32	113	827	940
Team Cameron*	35	7	3	0	0	10	45	293	338
Team Charles*	136	21	12	0	4	37	173	757	930
Team Grace*	29	13	2	4	0	19	48	383	431
Team Hugo*	115	23	8	0	6	37	152	904	1056
Team Josh*	147	31	12	0	11	54	201	897	1098
Team Matthew*	81	21	7	0	4	32	113	788	901
Team Oliver*	98	19	11	0	2	32	130	651	781
Team Tadej*	112	23	11	0	6	40	152	979	1131
Team Wesley*	12	15	0	0	4	19	31	573	604

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 5 (including dogs and adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	YELLOW JERSEY	GREEN JERSEY	POLKA DOT JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	87	19	6	0	6	31	118	672	790
Team Allison	47	14	9	0	4	27	74	641	715
Team Amalia*	113	20	3	0	3	26	139	652	791
Team Ambrose	136	21	12	0	4	37	173	662	835
Team Amelia	114	23	8	0	6	37	151	979	1130
Team Ansel*	136	23	12	0	6	41	177	926	1103
Team Caleb*	81	21	7	0	4	32	113	827	940
Team Cameron	78	16	7	0	3	26	104	663	767
Team Cameron*	35	7	3	0	0	10	45	293	338
Team Charles*	136	21	12	0	4	37	173	757	930
Team Charlotte	59	17	2	0	4	23	82	728	810
Team Corsa	89	23	11	0	6	40	129	789	918
Team Craig	99	23	11	0	6	40	139	860	999
Team Ed	112	21	11	0	4	36	148	775	923
Team Ellie	71	22	11	0	5	38	109	727	836
Team Eric	102	23	11	0	6	40	142	879	1021
Team Erin	35	18	4	0	1	23	58	697	755
Team Furner	33	19	2	0	6	27	60	668	728
Team Grace	73	22	11	0	5	38	111	719	830
Team Grace*	29	13	2	4	0	19	48	383	431
Team Hugo*	115	23	8	0	6	37	152	904	1056
Team Izzy	47	16	7	0	3	26	73	510	583
Team Jon	99	23	11	0	6	40	139	852	991
Team Jonathan	11	22	0	0	5	27	38	829	867
Team Jonwaine	41	23	0	0	6	29	70	938	1008
Team Josh*	147	31	12	0	11	54	201	897	1098
Team Julie	102	23	11	0	6	40	142	836	978
Team Kari	102	23	11	0	6	40	142	929	1071
Team Kate	99	19	11	0	2	32	131	706	837
Team Kent	102	23	11	0	6	40	142	967	1109
Team Kurt	135	21	12	0	4	37	172	828	1000
Team Laurens	96	23	3	0	6	32	128	816	944
Team Lichterman	69	14	11	0	1	26	95	597	692
Team Matthew*	81	21	7	0	4	32	113	788	901
Team Melanie	135	23	12	0	6	41	176	878	1054
Team Oliver*	98	19	11	0	2	32	130	651	781
Team Rob	101	23	11	0	6	40	141	872	1013
Team Sam	32	17	0	0	1	18	50	269	319
Team Senna#	52	17	7	0	0	24	76	502	578
Team Suzanne	34	21	4	3	4	32	66	657	723
Team Tadej*	112	23	11	0	6	40	152	979	1131
Team Valerie	68	13	7	5	0	25	93	358	451
Team Wesley	50	34	7	0	5	46	96	621	717
Team Wesley*	12	15	0	0	4	19	31	573	604

 

Allez le Tour!

 

-Laurens.