Thursday, June 11, 2026
Stage 5 Saint-Chamond > Parc des Oiseaux – Villars-les-Dombes
Narrowly edged by the breakaway on day 4, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) made the most of the opportunity handed out to the sprinters at the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes. In his return to the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, four years after his last participation, the Belgian star unleashed his power to claim a sixth victory in the race. He has now won at least one stage in each of his participations in the event: two in 2019, one in 2020, two in 2022, and another in this 78th edition. This time, he got the better of Hugo Hofstetter (NSN) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to take his second victory on the road this season, a couple of months after winning Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) finished inside the bunch to retain the yellow and blue leader’s jersey ahead of three mountainous stages set to decide the overall winner of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Stage 5
- Wout van Aert (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) 4h31’59”
- Hugo Hofstetter (NSN Cycling Team) +0’00”
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) +0’00”
GC
- Alex Baudin (EF Education – Easypost) 18h07’12”
- Kevin Vauquelin (Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team) +0’12”
- Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team) +0’12”
