Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) rode all of his rivals off his wheel to take an imperious summit victory on stage five of the Volta a Cataluyna.
On what was a big day in the mountains, with 4,500m of vertical ascent, Vingegaard attacked with 6.5km of the final climb – the Col de Pall. Initially he dragged a handful of GC contenders with him, but they were distanced 500m later when the Dane turned on the afterburners.
Big loser of the day was Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who was distanced by Vingegaard and those who followed him. He fell from third to sixth overall. Things were even worse for Tom Pidcock, who crashed into a ravine on the penultimate descent, and dropped from third to 74rd overall.
Speaking to the media afterwards, Vingegaard said: "It was quite a hard stage. We had a plan from the morning. I didn't feel the very very best in the beginning but on the last climb I felt very very good. My team did incredible. We had Davide [Piganzoli] in the breakaway so we didn't have to follow all day and then Sepp [Kuss] took over, and he made the difference for me in the end."
He said he was not expecting to make such a difference over his rivals, but because he felt so strong on the Col de Pall it allowed him to. "I'm really happy with the gap I made today," he said.
Asked whether Cataluyna would serve chiefly as preparation for other events later in the season – presumably such as the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France, he said: "No… it's a big race. I like to do big races, I like to win big races, and that's why I'm here also. And of course it's good preparation for what's coming up later in the season.
As for stage six, another mountain day, he said: "I'll not rule it out that we go for another stage. But we have to recover and see how we feel tomorrow. Of course, there are a lot of other riders in the bunch."
It was the first stage win of the race for Vingegaard, who began the day in fourth place overall at 24 seconds. Erstwhile leader Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) was dropped early on the final climb and finished well down, tumbling to 67th place on GC.
The 153km stage, from Le Seu d'Urgell to Col de Pall, was characterised by the early break that Vingegaard alluded to. As well as his team-mate Piganzoli it contained Einer Rubio (Movistar), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Impressively it survived until the lower reaches of the final climb, around which point Soler, Rubio and Piganzoli returned to help their teams and Ciccone forged on ahead. He initially maintained a useful gap on the chasing peloton but it began to fall and Vingegaard's attack at 6.5km was the final straw. After that there was little doubt who the winner would be.
Results
Volta a Catalunya 2026, stage 5: Le Seu d'Urgell > Col de Pall, 153km
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 153km in 4:13:44
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +51s
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:01
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at s.t.
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:03
6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:38
7. Matthias Skelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +1:39
8. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, all at same time
General Classification after stage 5
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 19:44:45
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +57s
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:09
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:13
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:15
6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:38
7. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +1:51
8. Matthias Skelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar
10. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana, all at same time
