Over 4000 metres of climbing, three 1st category climbs and the mountain arrival at Coll de Pal (HC category) - the fifth day of the Tour of Catalonia was considered the queen stage. In the end, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) celebrated a superior victory and took the overall lead of the tour.

From the first chasing group, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) secured second place 51 seconds later with a late attack, third place went to Lenny Martinez (Bahrain - Victorious, +1:01 minutes) ahead of Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), who was on the same time.

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), on the other hand, suffered a setback. First, the Belgian was unable to follow Vingegaard's attack six kilometres from the finish, and then he also had to let the group around Lipowitz go. He crossed the finish line 1:38 minutes behind. Thomas Pidock (Pinarello - Q36) played no role at all in the final climb.

The final ascent has to be shortened due to gusts of wind

Once again, the organisers also had to adjust the course of the stage. After the mountain finish to the Vallter ski station had already been cancelled the day before due to gusts of windHowever, this time the changes were not quite as extensive: Only the last 2.2 kilometres to the mountain finish at Colle de Pal (HC category) at an altitude of 2,100 metres had to be removed from the programme - again due to gusts of wind.

Nevertheless, the final climb remained challenging: instead of the planned 19.1 kilometres, there were only 16.9 kilometres of climbing, but with an average gradient of seven per cent and passages of up to ten per cent, the climb was still a yardstick for the overall standings. Vingegaard lived up to his role as favourite.

Vingegaard takes the yellow jersey

The classification of the Tour of Catalonia got a new look after this stage. As expected, the previous leader Dorian Godon (INEOS Grenadiers) did not play a role on this terrain. The new leader is now Vingegaard, followed by Gall (+0:57 minutes) and Martinez (+1:09 minutes). Lipowitz moved up to fourth place (+1:13 minutes), while team-mate Evenepoel dropped back to sixth place (+1:38 minutes).

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Tour of Catalonia 2026 - Results of the 5th stage

This is how the 5th stage of the Tour of Catalonia 2026 went

The attacks began at the start of the stage in La Seu d'Urgell, so that after several unsuccessful attempts at Port Colldarnat (1st category) a group of 22 riders formed - including Florian Lipowitz, Felix Engelhardt (Jayco - AlUla) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education - EasyPost).

But this group was not allowed to go far. On the climb, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Marc Soler (UAE-Emirates-XRG), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Junior Lecerf (Soudal-Quick-Step) and Davide Piganzoli (Visma | Lease a Bike) finally broke away from the group. They formed the escape group of the day.

Giulio Ciccone diligently collects mountain points

The stage included four more climbs before the mountain finish. On the Coll de Josa (2nd category), Ciccone secured the mountain points, as he had already done at Port Colldarnat. The Italian also took full points on the Coll de Fumanya (1st category) 30 kilometres later. At this point, Lecerf had already lost contact with the escape group; shortly afterwards, Rubio also dropped back. The gap between the peloton and the escapees was mostly around two minutes. 31 kilometres before the finish, Ciccone also won on the Collada Sobirana climb (1st category).

At the foot of the final climb, the lead of the three escapees was only around 40 seconds. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team took over most of the chasing work. Before the final climb, however, Evenepoel only had Jai Hindley and Florian Lipowitz at his side.

At the front, Ciccone broke away as a soloist from his companions Piganzoli and Soler at the Colle de Pal. Among the classification riders, Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) forced the first attack ten kilometres from the finish. The next attack came from Felix Gall and created a group around Lenny Martinez and Lipowitz.

Vingegaard outpaces the competition as a soloist

Behind them, the group of favourites gradually thinned out. Among others, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) dropped back. With 6.8 kilometres to go, Vingegaard launched the expected attack. Evenepoel was initially able to follow, but when Vingegaard caught up with the group around Gall and Lipowitz, the Dane pulled away as a soloist six kilometres from the finish - and overtook Ciccone on the last breakaway.

Behind Vingegaard there was a group around Lipowitz, Gall, Martinez and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), who ultimately decided the second place on the stage among themselves. Evenepoel was even further back - and suffered a serious blow to his classification ambitions.