Olav Kooij took a dramatic win on stage five of the 2026 Tour de France, after multiple riders crashed just outside 5km to go.
The Decathlon CMA CGM rider won on his first opportunity on his debut Tour, as Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) took second and third respectively.
The first bunch sprint was always likely to be chaotic, but it was a relatively calm day for the majority of the stage, with just one rider, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) escaping.
However, that changed in the final kilometres, after a crash split the bunch with 5.3km to go, with seven riders caught up in the carnage: Victor Campenaerts (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step), Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon), Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) and Stefano Oldani, Abel Balderstone and Alex Molenaar (all from Caja Rural - Seguros RGA).
Amid the mayhem that ensued after the crash, it looked for a moment like there might have been a time gap between Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), but both were recorded as coming in 14 seconds after the winner, and yellow jersey holder Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) was in the same group, so ultimately there were no major positions shuffles in the GC – in fact, the first 16 spots remain unchanged from yesterday.
Olav Kooij, 24, only joined Decathlon CMA CGM earlier this year, this is his first time at the Tour. He was injured or ill for the first half of this season, which meant he didn't race until end of May and had to really fight for selection.
"After a couple of hard days already, I had to wait to this day to get this first chance to sprint in the Tour, and to immediately win is unbelievable," said Kooij in his post-race interview.
"I think it means quite a lot, just in general, after a pretty tough spring, to get back to this level, to keep believing in yourself and just a few people who believe in you as well is all you need. To be here with the support of the team today was all I could ask for and they did a great job.
"I think it was quite an easy day until the final, so you know it will be hectic. The first sprint of the Tour, everyone is still really eager. I just managed to find my way a bit on my own in the end, but I found the right wheel, and I just wanted to have a chance to sprint today. When I saw the line I just went as hard as I could.
"We’ll enjoy this. There are many more days left in this Tour and we will just keep going and try to do our best every day, but for sure we’ll enjoy this one. We need to get there, day by day."
Riders endured another horrendously hot day in the saddle today, racing through an official extreme weather warning as the temperature in the shade pushed past 37°C, although for most part the peloton treated the undulating stage as something of a rolling rest day.
One rider who buried himself was Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché), who embarked on a solo breakaway very early on, and cut a lonely figure cycling along sun-blasted roads through the field-fringed rural landscape of the Hautes-Pyrénées – staying just ahead of the pack until 14km before the finish line at Pau.
In doing so Veistroffer bagged 25 points for the intermediate sprint (followed by Max Kanter from XDS Astana Team and Lidl – Trek’s Mads Pedersen, who was wearing the green jersey as the leader in the points classification). Under the new system, designed to benefit sprinters in the green jersey contest, 70 points were on offer today.
The route only featured one classified climb, Côte de Baleix, a 1km-long haul with an average gradient of 8.8% (max 10.7%), which Veistroffer was first to crest, earning himself another two points in the KOM competition and getting 3 seconds shaved off his time.
Shortly after the climb, British champion Fred Wright from Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling had a brief flurry in a small three-rider group ahead of the peloton with Kasper Asgreen (EF Education - EasyPost) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), but it came to nought.
And with 14km to go, after riding on his own for over 130km, the peloton loomed behind Veistroffer, and the tenacious Frenchman was caught, having certainly seized the title of most combative rider of the day.
Pau has featured an incredible 96 times on the route of the Tour de France, and hosted 77 finishes, with today’s scenes being right up there with the most dramatic.
Results
Stage 5, Lannemezan > Pau, 158.3km
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM, in 3:29:07
2. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana
3. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
4. Huub Artz (Ned) Lotto Intermarché
5. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
6. Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN Cycling
7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
8. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis
9. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies
10. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, all at same time
Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage five
1. Torstein Træen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, in 16:32:07
2. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost, +28s
3. Mathias Vaceck (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +3:50
4. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in +7:53
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +8:06
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +8:16
8. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +8:17
9. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +8:20
10. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +8:41
