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2026-06-11T13:33:24.369Z
And there was no sprint action in the peloton, either, as Visma-Lease a Bike continue to tap out a steady pace at the front of the peloton, around two minutes behind the six stage leaders.
2026-06-11T13:32:23.618Z
Intermediate sprint
Arriolabengoa (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)gets the maximum points with zero opposition from his breakaway companions as they trundle underneath the sprint banner at Blacé (km 108.7).
2026-06-11T13:29:30.490Z
The bunch clearly doesn’t want to haul the break back in too soon, but the sprinters’ teams won’t want a repeat of Wednesday’s scenario where they missed out – by painfully little – either.
2026-06-11T13:26:56.764Z
Bahrain Victorious, working for sprinter Phil Bauhaus, are adding their shoulder to the wheel in the bunch to chase the six ahead.
2026-06-11T13:25:30.906Z
2:15 the gap, so the six ahead will get the lion’s share of the points.
2026-06-11T13:24:46.943Z
The stage’s one intermediate sprint at Blacé (km 108.7) is fast hauling into view. No time bonuses, but a useful haul of points in the green jersey competition.
2026-06-11T13:23:07.618Z
Apart from that Tour de France finish back in 2016, the Villars-les-Dombes-Parc des Oiseaux has featured three times as a start and once as a finish in the Critérium du Dauphiné in the past. The only previous finish was in a TT in 2013, won by German time trial powerhouse Tony Martin.
2026-06-11T13:14:29.690Z
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2026-06-11T13:13:05.440Z
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Bruno Armirail hard at work on the front of the pack
2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 5: Bruno Armirail working hard on the front (Image credit: Getty Images)
2026-06-11T12:57:03.237Z
A reminder of our six breakaways:
Pepin Reijnderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies), Julen Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL).
2026-06-11T12:56:04.662Z
106 kilometres to go
2:10 the gap.
2026-06-11T12:53:06.564Z
Today’s finish at the Villars-les-Dombes/Parc des Oiseaux is Europe’s largest wildlife park dedicated to birds and gets 300,000 visitors a year. However, it’s also famous for cycling fans as the place where Mark Cavendish took his fourth stage win in the 2016 Tour de France. It was the 30th of his career, ahead of stars of the calibre of Alexander Kristoff and Peter Sagan. But the victory celebrations were also marred a little by a protest from Marcel Kittel about possible irregularities by Cavendish in the sprint, with the result delayed before the win was definitively upheld in Cavendish’s favour.
Here’s our full report from ten years ago.
Tour de France: Cavendish wins stage 14 in Villars-les-Dombes
2026-06-11T12:37:55.999Z
The peloton has covered nearly half of the 2,500 metres of elevation gain in today’s stage, with just one lengthy, draggy ascent to go before they head out of the hills for good and the last 100 kilometres of much gentler terrain. The gap for the break remains stable at 2:30.
2026-06-11T12:24:47.747Z
There have been mixed signals from Wout van Aert in this year’s Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with a sluggish start then followed by a promising finish, winning the sprint behind the break, on Wednesday and a mixture of optimism and caution from the Visma-Lease a Bike man himself. Here’s the latest on what Van Aert makes of his first race back since conquering Paris-Roubaix.
‘I still need to improve a lot’ – Wout van Aert realistic about pre-Tour de France shape despite positive signs in near-miss sprint loss
2026-06-11T12:21:04.855Z
Another shot of the break
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2026-06-11T12:18:03.677Z
138 kilometres to go
The gap stabilizes at around 2:25. Puncture for Netcompany Ineos stage racer Carlos Rodríguez.
2026-06-11T12:07:22.782Z
Given we’ve already had all the mountains points on offer, by the way, and the rider who grabbed the two available, Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep) is a long way down, assuming he completes the stage, France’s Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ) will remain in the top spot overall in that ranking for a fourth straight day.
2026-06-11T11:59:25.379Z
Having shrunk to a bare 20-25 seconds advantage, after none of the counter attackers, including breakaway specialist Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto-Intermarché, managed to get across to the break, the six are once again building an advantage. At this point, 148kms from the line, it’s ballooned to 2:20 and counting.
2026-06-11T11:53:05.017Z
155km to go
The half-dozen are maintaining a scant 30 second advantage as they tackle a long section of downhill. Certainly nobody’s hanging about – the day’s average speed has been a brisk(given the hills in the first part) 38kmh so far.
2026-06-11T11:49:46.111Z
While we’re waiting to see if the break manages to fend off the peloton, here’s what one former multiple Critérium du Dauphiné winner (as the race was known) is up to these days:
Chris Froome returns to action in pedal boat charity race across the Mediterranean Sea
2026-06-11T11:46:37.061Z
More attacks in the peloton
Who said this was the break of the day? (Ok, we did.) Their advantage has now shrunk to just 25 seconds and more attacks are flying out of the front half of the bunch.
2026-06-11T11:45:14.384Z
Of the six ahead, Canadian veteran Houle is by far the most decorated, winning a stage of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees back in 2022.
2026-06-11T11:43:48.726Z
Here’s a shot from today’s race of GC leader Alex Baudin, winner of stage 1 from a break and able to maintain his top spot through the first big GC challenge of this year’s race, Tuesday’s TTT.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
2026-06-11T11:41:17.493Z
The gap continues to fall as the six grind their way over a series of small but relentless climbs early on. There’s 2,500 metres of vertical gain on this stage, and nearly all of it is in the first half of the day’s racing, with around a third already covered.
2026-06-11T11:37:59.853Z
Their advantage has now dropped to 1:25 as Visma-Lease a Bike and Cofidis, the latter presumably working for Bryan Coquard, give chase.
2026-06-11T11:19:10.188Z
Of the six ahead, the biggest ‘threat’ on GC is Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL), 15:00 down.So EF Education-EasyPost will do a lot of the early spadework keeping the break at a reasonable distance, and their leader Alex Baudin in contention, that size of a margin means it’ll be up to the sprinters’ teams to do a lot of the work in the second part of the day.
2026-06-11T11:16:02.699Z
It’s dry and sunny, incidentally, but not too hot, 20 degrees and set to stay at around that temperature for the next few hours. Wind a relatively gentle 16kmh, mostly crosswinds for the whole day and lots of changes of race route, so you can’t rule out the chance of an echelon somewhere along the way…
2026-06-11T11:12:50.337Z
180 km to go – 2:30 advantage for the break
The break’s advantage is now stabilizing at around 2:30 as they reach the highest point of the hilly early section.
2026-06-11T11:11:32.437Z
And here’s a first photo of the half dozen leaders
2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 5: the early break (Image credit: Getty Images)
2026-06-11T11:07:54.079Z
The advantage of the six ahead has now risen to over 2:30. It looks like we’ve got the break of the day.
2026-06-11T11:06:19.196Z
Climb
The six rider break has now reached the summit of the Col de la Gachet (1.6km at 4.4%), and Reijnderink picks up the sole point on offer again.
2026-06-11T11:05:32.008Z
The official race website reminds us that on the fast-upcoming Col de la Gachet, there’s a monument to the late Andrei Kivilev. It has this to say about it:
“An early tribute to Andrei Kivilev
Twenty-three years ago, in March 2003, the Kazakh cyclist Andrei Kivilev lost his life on the roads of Paris-Nice during a stage heading towards Saint-Étienne, which he was due to finish on home roads as he was living in Saint-Chamond.
His death had a profound effect on the peloton and led to the rapid introduction of much stricter regulations on the wearing of helmets in cycling races.
A memorial has been erected near the Col de la Gachet (km 7.5), at the spot where the startline is marked each year for the cyclosportive organised in tribute to the former Cofidis rider. It was with the French team that he achieved his greatest success in Grenoble, winning stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 2001, a few weeks before finishing 4th in the Tour de France.”
2026-06-11T11:01:57.019Z
Their advantage is already over a minute and fast rising.
2026-06-11T11:01:41.333Z
He’s part of a six-man breakaway that has formed early on over this climb. It contains: Reijnderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies), Julen Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL)
2026-06-11T10:58:33.243Z
Climb
Pepijn Reijnderink (Soudal Quick-Step) claims the lone point on offer at the summit of Cat.4 Côte de la Croix-Blanch.
2026-06-11T10:56:07.697Z
On the subject of which, a reminder of who’s who at the top of the different overall rankings:
GC leader: Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost)
Mountains: Clément Bras Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United)
BYR: Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost)
Points: Nadav Raisberg (NSN)
Teams: Groupama-FDJ United
2026-06-11T10:51:05.489Z
Somewhat weirdly for a ‘sprint stage’, we’re straight onto a climb as soon as the start flag dropped, the Cat.4 Côte de la Croix-Blanch (3km at 5%). Just one point on offer at the top of the climb for the mountains ranking.
2026-06-11T10:49:39.963Z
Three non-starters
Three non-starters according to the official race website: veteran allrounder Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), due to unspecified sickness, and Movistar duo Ivan Romeo, the reigning Spanish National Champion, and Ecuadorian climber Jefferson Cepeda.
2026-06-11T10:46:11.414Z
195.8 kilometres to go
And stage 5 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from Saint-Chamond to Parc des Oiseaux – Villars-les-Dombes is officially underway.
2026-06-11T10:39:38.897Z
🎊 Stage 5 is underway! 🎊 C’est parti pour l’étape 5 du #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes pic.twitter.com/1wJ0LYZsIzJune 11, 2026
2026-06-11T10:36:58.868Z
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2026-06-11T10:34:43.383Z
The peloton is now on the 5.3 kilometre neutralised section by the way.
2026-06-11T10:33:37.682Z
So who’s up for the win today? Three options, as colleague James Moultrie pointed out for yesterday’s sprint (which didn’t happen, but could have) are Dorian Godon (Netcompany Ineos), Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).
To that, perennial allrounder Matteo Trentin (Tudor) is another possibility, and given it’s that much flatter today, you could add an out-and-out sprinter like Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious). He’s got previous, too, winning a stage of the Dauphiné (as it was then known) back in 2017. And here’s a photo to prove it.
2017 Critérium du Dauphine: Phil Bauhaus wins stage 5 (Image credit: Getty Images)
2026-06-11T10:10:32.996Z
Here’s a map of the same route, essentially running north and east for a fairly hefty 195 kilometre stage, the second longest of this year’s route.
(Image credit: ASO)
2026-06-11T10:09:09.569Z
So what’s in store for today? Well, on the official race route, today’s stage is somewhat oddly classified as hilly, but in fact there are only two Cat.4 ascents, both in the first 10 kilometres, and a third Cat.4 mid-way through the original race route when published back in the day has now disappeared.
Most likely then, we’ll see a bunch sprint, for the first and last time in the 2026 race, given what’s come before and the three Alpine stages coming up from Friday onwards.
2026-06-11T10:06:41.071Z
The overall classification didn’t change that much, (and on paper today it shouldn’t either), with Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) remaining in top spot after Wednesday’s stage for a fourth successive day.
(Image credit: FirstCycling)
2026-06-11T09:57:21.235Z
If you missed any of the action on Wednesday, it evolved into a thrilling bunch-v-break scenario, won by Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) from the lead move ahead of the main break:
Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Quinn Simmons blasts to victory on stage 4 from 10-rider breakaway with peloton breathing down their backs
2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 4: Quinn Simmons wins (Image credit: Getty Images)
2026-06-11T09:52:16.505Z
Racing starts in just under an hour, with the neutralised roll-out beginning at 1230 CET and then the racing for real at 1245 CET.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 5 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the race’s one and only chance of a bunch sprint this year.