Olav Kooij wins his maiden Tour de France sprint after crash marred finale to stage 5
CyclingWednesday, 08 July 2026 at 18:21
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Follow us on GoogleOlav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) won the fifth stage of the Tour de France in Pau. The sprinter was the fastest after a leisurely ride along the edge of the Pyrenees, which, as expected, was decided in a mass sprint. Torstein Traaen (Uno-X) gets to enjoy the yellow jersey for an extra day.
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Visma | Lease a Bike/Jonas Vingegaard, Isaac Del Toro, Tadej Pogacar, and Mads Pedersen: those are the winners of this Tour de France so far. On Wednesday, on paper, a sprinter looks set to join that list in Stage 5.
There’s actually quite a bit of elevation gain, so teams with a sprinter who can climb (and has a lot of guts) might just try something. Especially since there’s a short but steep climb coming up just over 20 kilometers from the finish. Will anyone dare to go all out there, or will all the sprinters survive to contest a royal sprint in Pau?
Very little enthusiasm for a breakaway
It was questionable whether there would be any enthusiasm at all for a day in the early breakaway. You don't really need to ask Baptiste Veistroffer that, because the French breakaway king is actually always up for it. On Wednesday, too, he took off right from kilometer 0.
Unfortunately for Veistroffer, he was the only one in the peloton who fancied riding ahead of the pack for a day. And so we ended up with a lone rider at the front, and a very lonely day awaited the Frenchman. He had already told Eurosport before the stage that he did not view a day in the breakaway as a battle against the peloton, but a battle against himself. That was certainly the case now.
Tour director Prudhomme shakes hands with French rugby star
Consequently, we witnessed a rather uneventful course of events. Uno-X took control of the peloton, as is somewhat expected. Apart from that, we saw little of note during the intermediate phase. Along the way, Tour director Christian Prudhomme shook hands with Antoine Dupont, the darling of French rugby.
Not much happened, as for a very long time we saw either Silvan Dillier representing Alpecin-Premier Tech or Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) at the front of the peloton. They did so, of course, in support of Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier respectively, on paper two of the big favorites for the stage win.
Kanter wins the intermediate sprint
With all due respect to Veistroffer's performance, the first point of tension was expected to come 45 kilometers from the finish with the intermediate sprint and a subsequent hilly section. In the first showdown between the fast men, Max Kanter won the sprint for points, surprising Pedersen, Philipsen and co. Although most of them were not at full strength.
After the intermediate sprint, the hilly zone approached, with climbs towards Lamayou (1.1 kilometers at 6.8 percent), Maure (0.6 km at 8.6 percent), and the categorized Cote de Baleix (1 kilometer at 8.8 percent) in a short space of time. Towards that phase, the pace in the peloton was already increasing, with Dylan van Baarle (Soudal Quick-Step) among others at the front.
Read more below the video!
No attack in the hills from Lidl-Trek
Beforehand, it was suggested here and there that Lidl-Trek might well cause a stir on the three small hills thirty kilometers from the finish, but it didn't come to that. One man had to drop back on the climb, and unfortunately that was Arvid de Kleijn of Tudor, while Fred Wright and Kasper Asgreen opted for an attack.
Fifteen kilometers from the finish, we could speak of a complete peloton preparing for the sprint in Pau. We no longer saw any general classification teams; they positioned themselves at the back to stay out of the danger zone in the hectic run-up to the final kilometers of this stage. And that turned out to be a risky choice...
Cofidis saw team captain Alex Kirsch drop out with a mechanical defect five kilometers from the finish, where the peloton was also startled by a crash. Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike), Alex Molenaar (Caja rural) and part of the Soudal Quick-Step train, while gaps also formed before the five-kilometer zone.
At the front, of course, there was no waiting, with Cofidis and Uno-X taking control. All the big teams were in the slipstream, waiting for the right moment, which came just before the bends in the final kilometer. XDS-Astana seemed to have things well organized there, but Kooij and Philipsen were also nearby.
Teunissen pulled at the perfect moment for Kanter, who attacked 250 meters from the finish line with Kooij in his wake. The Dutchman took over immediately and secured his first victory in his first Tour de France sprint with overwhelming dominance. Kanter finished second, ahead of Merlier. Like Philipsen and co, Merlier was too far back to challenge for the win.
Results stage 5 Tour de France 2026
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David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- - How many times has Pog actually worn yellow now? The article hints he’s lost count—anyone got the exact stat?robert6506-07-2026
- - Unreal start to the Tour: two punches in three days. If he’s taking yellow this early, the real game is load management before the first true summit finish.davidm06-07-2026
- - Grandissimo Tadej! Maillot jaune meritato, squadra perfetta oggi.sprocketspiny06-07-2026
- - Not sure I buy the “nothing really tough” description. 3,850m of climbing in that heat is brutal, even if the gradients aren’t HC. Felt a bit dismissive.cadencekingm06-07-2026
- - Pogacar’s humour about the gels was gold. Also, nice to see him credit Del Toro. That Barcelona gesture coming back today was a proper team arc.michael5406-07-2026
- - Quick question: when they say “break got a free pass” by Visma, does that mean Visma just stopped chasing completely? Or is it more like they eased but still controlled the gap?velodromevirtuoso106-07-2026
- - Sorry, but the piece glosses over how Vermeersch shredded the gap. That was the hinge of the stage. Give him more credit than a single line.raceready706-07-2026
- - Two seconds on a 200m kick says it all. Vingegaard looked glued, but not enough punch yet. Heat management + gels every 30 minutes clearly dialed.andrewf06-07-2026
- - What a statement from Pog! Del Toro’s launch was textbook. You could see UAE-XRG had zero interest in gifting the break any hope today.jennifer1906-07-2026
- - ¿Habrá abanicos con ese viento noroeste? Si se parte el pelotón en los llanos antes de Quillan, adiós a muchos sprinters.patriciaw06-07-2026
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