Back-to-back for Vingegaard at Paris–Nice as Visma | Lease a Bike dominate stage 5
CyclingThursday, 12 March 2026 at 16:46
Jonas Vingegaard won stage 5 of Paris–Nice on Thursday to make it two victories in a row for Visma | Lease a Bike, with the Dane once again proving far too strong for the rest of the field. After another selective day in the mountains, Vingegaard finished 2:30 ahead of Daniel Felipe Martínez and significantly increased his advantage in the general classification. Behind them, Valentin Paret-Peintre was the strongest rider in the chasing group.
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After Wednesday’s savage stage, and with the peloton already reduced by 15 riders according to the post-stage medical fallout, the bunch had to prepare for yet another day packed with climbing. This time, however, the weather was kinder. The roads stayed dry on Thursday, which at least spared the riders another day of rain-soaked misery.
The GC picture had already been heavily reshaped after stage 4. Vingegaard started the day in the leader’s jersey with Martínez looking like his only realistic challenger, while third-placed Georg Steinhauser was already more than three minutes down. That left the impression that, barring disaster, the real battle might soon be shifting toward the fight for the final podium place rather than the race win itself.
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Break finally forms after frantic opening as Gaudu abandons
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Despite the punishment handed out on Wednesday, the peloton did not ease into stage 5. Quite the opposite: it was a furious start, with seemingly half the field determined to make the breakaway. The result was an opening hour raced at more than 50 kilometres per hour before a move finally stuck after around 70 kilometres. Aleksandr Vlasov was the rider who made it happen, with Joshua Tarling, Rémi Cavagna, Jefferson Cepeda and Nicolas Prodhomme joining him out front.
Meanwhile, David Gaudu — fifth overall at the start of the day — ran into trouble on the first categorised climb. Not long after, the Frenchman climbed off. He was not the only rider to abandon, as Luke Durbridge and Pavel Sivakov also left the race during the stage.
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Movistar sends reinforcements up the road
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The pace remained high all day, and there was little room to hide. At one point Georg Steinhauser, the white jersey wearer, briefly slipped off the back of the peloton, although EF Education–EasyPost managed to guide him back. Even so, it did not look like an encouraging sign for the finale.
Movistar then decided that having only Cepeda in the break was not enough. Lorenzo Milesi and Ivan Romeo jumped across in pursuit, and Victor Campenaerts went with them. Before long, the three chasers bridged to the front, turning the original five-man break into an eight-rider move.
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Cepeda goes solo as Visma | Lease a Bike thin the bunch
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With roughly two minutes in hand, the eight leaders entered the decisive phase of the stage, starting with the Côte de Sécheras. The break quickly split to pieces on the lower slopes, with Cepeda emerging as the strongest rider up front. Behind, Bruno Armirail did a major turn for Visma | Lease a Bike and thinned the peloton significantly, dropping riders including Andreas Leknessund and stage-4 surprise Jensen Plowright.
By the summit, Cepeda’s lead had already been slashed to around one minute. Vlasov and Prodhomme were still stranded between the lone leader and the peloton, where INEOS Grenadiers had taken over the pace-setting. Riders from teams backing Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley looked determined to repair the damage from Wednesday, and Cepeda’s advantage rapidly disappeared.
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Vingegaard attacks and the GC contenders crack
On the day’s only first-category climb, the tempo surged again. Valentin Paret-Peintre tried to anticipate with an attack, but that move did not last. Far more significant was what happened behind him: second-placed Martínez and third-placed Steinhauser were already under pressure near the back of the group when Vingegaard launched his move with 21 kilometres to go.
The yellow jersey rider did not immediately disappear up the road, but he soon had daylight. In the chase, Lenny Martinez, Vauquelin, Harold Tejada and Paret-Peintre tried to respond, while Martínez and Steinhauser eventually clawed their way back into that group. It made little difference. Vingegaard steadily increased his lead and never looked in real danger of being brought back.
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Vingegaard rides away as the chase falls apart
On the final categorised climb of the day, the Dane only grew stronger. His advantage kept increasing, while the riders behind failed completely to organise a proper chase. Just as on Wednesday, Vauquelin had to do much of the work himself, and cooperation behind the leader was virtually non-existent.
That lack of cohesion showed on the road and on the clock. Vingegaard’s lead rose toward a minute and a half, while the group behind was hit by a series of mostly French attacks. Paret-Peintre, Lenny Martinez and Vauquelin all took turns trying to break free, and after several efforts it was the Soudal Quick-Step rider who finally managed to go clear.
Paret-Peintre started the final four uphill kilometres with a lead of around 15 seconds over the rest of the chase and only extended it from there, while the others behind him came almost to a standstill. Up front, there was no doubt about the stage winner. Vingegaard crossed the line in commanding fashion to seal his second stage victory in a row and land another major blow in the Race to the Sun.
Results stage 5 Paris-Nice 2026
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Latest Comments
- It's a bit embarrassing that. Isn't the main sponsor supposed to keep them at 36.5 ?tomjacques03-03-2026
- They were close to cracking a very tired Tadej that wasn't fully focused on the TdF with a team of riders focused solely on cracking Tadej. And if they cracked him, he would have still won. Tadej won't be racing the giro this year. It'll be an even easier win for him.Veganpotter09-02-2026
- Nice!Bea22-01-2026
- Those events are mental rest for him. Fun, without expectations. *Sagan lost his abilities because he gained weight and got lazy. Pogi will likely retire before that has a chance at happening.Veganpotter14-12-2025
- Ah, the consequences of riding for Israel.Veganpotter11-12-2025
- Pidcock could follow everyone but Pogi while finishing 3rd. No second place rider this season😃Veganpotter16-11-2025
- Now the Palestinian protestors can stop their whining. Trump came to the rescue. So they can now STFU and go back to waving the rainbow flags.raufus15-10-2025
- Cracked the code lol. If it was that easy to 'crack the code' jonny Vegas would be charging up the Kwaremont giving Pog a dose of his medicine. Evenepoel can't match pog on a climb and neither can mvdp. Anything with a half difficult climb and Pog smashes the field. Even on flat(ish)parcours like Roubaix it came down to a mistake and crash by pog to definitively crown mvdp. MSR is the only one that Pog probably won't win.kevpt10-10-2025
- We've seen this movie before. I think Pogacar is doping.DeadBlow10-10-2025
- 👍Bea08-10-2025
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