The danish Jonas Vingegaard has taken a coup of authority with his victory in the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya, held this Friday between La Seu d’Urgell and Coll de la Pal. A tough mountain stage of 153 kilometers, finally respected by the weather.
The double winner of the Tour has entered the finish line after 4:13:44 hours of travel, leaving his pursuers more than a minute away, including the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, to also take the lead in the general standings.
Volta a Catalunya 2026: summary of stage 5
After the important cutting from the previous stage Due to the wind in the Pyrenees, fans and strong riders in the peloton were waiting for this fifth stage to finally see some spectacle in the Volta. A new adjustment was announced this Friday, but it was ultimately only two kilometers.
The organization had put as an appetizer the ‘Stelvio Catalá’, the Port Colldarnatto encourage the race from the start and a group of runners picked up the gauntlet. Among them were the Spanish Marc Soler (UAE), the Italian Davide Piganzoli (Visma) and his compatriot Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek), who had dropped in the general standings to 3:51.
Ciccone tried to take advantage of his disadvantage in the general classification to escape the marking of the favorites in the peloton. As the escapees advanced, the sifting was done from behind and the hitherto leader, Dorian Godon, suffered.
He Coll de la Fumanya He did his thing with an average of 7% and ramps of up to 18%, but the race was most encouraged by the descent of the Collada Sobirana, which with its narrow and twisty road witnessed falls such as those of Joao Almeida (UAE), Sepp Kuss (Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello), among others.
In that descent he tried first Ciccone attackbut it was not until he began the climb to Coll de la Pal that he managed to escape from his companions on the run. Meanwhile, the platoon tried to hunt down the escapees, but they could not beat the Italian, who maintained the lead for around a minute. Piganzoli and Soler were not so lucky.
Hostilities began in the platoon once Piganzoli was absorbed and it was the Spanish Mikel Landa (Soudal) the one who made the first attempt, which was not enough for him to leave, but it was enough for him to do the screening. The attempt by Austrian Felix Gall (Decathlon) got a little further away, which provoked Visma’s reaction with a recovered Kuss in the lead.
Vingegaard’s ax blow
Gall took with him Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull) y a Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorius). Juanpe López (Movistar) tried to follow them without luck, because the breakaway was promising for the stage – and for the general classification – with a pace that threatened Ciccone’s victory, barely holding on for half a minute ahead.
And the adventure ended six km from the finish line when Jonas Vingegaard hit the table and he ate them all, Ciccone included. Only a few like Evenepoel could keep up with him, but even the Belgian ended up giving in to the Dane’s momentum. At 5 km from the finish line he was already alone with a chasing group at 20 seconds and Evenepoel at 38… and increasing.
Now the double Olympic champion is down in the standings at 1:38 minutes. Vingegaard is the leaderfollowed by the Austrian Gall at 57 seconds with the bonuses added and with the Frenchman Lenny Martínez in third position at 1:09 minutes.
The double winner of the Tour arrived as a great favorite with the Paris-Nice having just won and ready to recover the level of form that made him the great rival of Tadej Pogacar. If things continue like this, this Volta a Catalunya promises a spectacle, like this Saturday in the sixth stage between Berga and the climb to the Queralt Sanctuary.
