Volta a Catalunya stage 5 LIVE: Five strong riders clear after frantic first climb

1. Ciccone (LTK) 10pts
2. Soler (UAD) 8pts
3. Piganzoli (TVL) 6pts
4. Rubio (MOV) 4pts
5. Lecerf (SOQ) 2pts
6. Tuckwell (RBH) 1pt

That sees Ciccone jump straight up to third place in the KOM standings and a becomes a very dangerous rival for Veistroffer with the Italian now 29 points behind with a maximum haul of 61 points available.

2026-03-27T11:41:26.578Z

The leaders have one minute and 25 seconds on the peloton.

2026-03-27T11:41:09.977Z

The completed the 15.3km climb of the Port Colldarnat with its average gradient of 5% and max of 12% in 33 minutes 30 seconds with an average speed of 27.4kph.

2026-03-27T11:39:32.704Z

The expected teams are controlling in the peloton with Ineos Grenadiers and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe doing the bulk of the work. UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike are also on the front, despite having riders in the break. This is likely to help their GC favourites to be well positioned for the descent.

2026-03-27T11:37:44.483Z

The riders go over the top of the Port Colldarnat.

2026-03-27T11:36:22.185Z

Despite his best efforts, it looks like Veistroffer will not be taking many KOM points today and may find his lead in the classification under threat.

2026-03-27T11:33:52.011Z

Piganzoli and Rubio join Ciccone, Soler and Lecerf out front as the rest of the break are dragged back by what remains of the peloton. The gap between the front and the bunch now sits at just over a minute.

2026-03-27T11:29:25.852Z

The race leader, Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers), has already been dropped and is well out of the back.

2026-03-27T11:28:48.244Z

Piganzoli and Rubio are just 10 seconds off the three leaders. The 17 man chase group are 20 seconds off and the peloton is 50 seconds back.

Soler, Ciccone and Lecerf are not happy with the composition and kick on with Piganzoli and Rubio chasing.

2026-03-27T11:27:23.768Z

Rubio, Uriarte, Engelhardt, Svarre, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Jan Hirt (NSN), Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) and Damien Howson (Pinarello-Q36.5) complete the group.

2026-03-27T11:25:42.639Z

The group continues to grow with Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and about 5 others join.

2026-03-27T11:24:41.836Z

Joining Ciccone and Leonard are Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Cristian Rodriguez (XDS-Astana), Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep), Davide Piganzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep), Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon-CMA CGM), Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (Ineos Grenadiers) and four others.

Ciccone and Leonard seek to form a new move. They are joined by 13 other riders.

2026-03-27T11:19:11.474Z

The peloton is going at such a rate that a split has formed. Will any of the big GC names have been caught out on the first ascent of the day?

But all that effort comes to naught as the peloton has caught the breakaway with just over 10km to the summit of the Port Colldarnat.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-27T11:17:13.445Z

Adria Pericas (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Antoine l’Hote (Decathlon-CMA CGM), Michael Leonard (EF Education-EasyPost), Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Simone Gualdi (Lotto-Intermarche) and Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma) have joined Engelhardt, Veistroffer, Lecerf, Svarre, Gonzalez, Wenzel and Stites.

2026-03-27T11:14:51.466Z

The break are pushing hard and two riders have been dropped back to the peloton.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-27T11:11:34.324Z

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) is one of the riders who has bridged to the leading group.

2026-03-27T11:11:04.949Z

All change at the front yet again as the group swells to 16 riders on the Port Colldarnat.

2026-03-27T11:06:30.523Z

The leading group of nine riders have 30 seconds on a new chasing group of three riders with the peloton a further 10 seconds behind them.

2026-03-27T11:05:03.560Z

Josh Burnett (Burgos-Burpellet-BH) desperately tried to bridge the gap but has been swallowed up at the base of the first climb of the day, the 15.3km long Port Colldarnat which has an average gradient of 5% with a max kick of 12%.

2026-03-27T11:03:20.686Z

The lead group looks to have settled down to nine riders:

Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarche)
Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep)
Tobias Svarre (Uno-X Mobility)
Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla)
David Gonzalez (Pinarello-Q36.5)
Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma)
Samuel Fernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure)
Samuel Florez (Modern Adventure)

The lead group has split! Multiple riders all over the road as they try and form the day’s break.

2026-03-27T10:57:14.251Z

The lead group grows dramatically with 15 riders in the front!

2026-03-27T10:56:58.179Z

The leading trio are joined by one more rider and have a gap of 10 seconds.

Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarche) *Obviously
Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma)
Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Racing is underway after Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and a couple of NSN riders had an issue and delayed the start.

2026-03-27T10:54:08.734Z

La Seu d’Urgell looks like an absolutely gorgeous place to start a bike race!

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-27T10:48:57.292Z

Pidcock had some very excitable family time before the start of the stage. The Yorkshireman looks like a different man this season with some superb performances. Will he continue to surprise today?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-27T10:44:44.101Z

The riders have started the neutral zone.

2026-03-27T10:44:25.084Z

Two non-starters today:

Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek)
Noah Hobbs (EF Education-EasyPost)

The Canadian national champion hasn’t been feeling well all week and yesterday’s crash was the final straw. Whereas, Hobbs has been sprinting really well, but he now has no stages that suit him so has left the race.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

High winds continue to plague the race with the route being altered yet again. However, the riders will still race up La Molina but finish 2.2km lower down the mountain at the Sant Jordi refuge.

2026-03-27T10:16:46.061Z

The GC fight is a tight one at the moment with Pidcock just 13 seconds off Godon’s lead. Evenepoel is a second behind the Brit on 14 seconds while Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is on 24 seconds.

The rest of the GC riders are all on 26 seconds. These gaps will surely be much larger by the end of today on La Molina.

2026-03-27T10:04:41.565Z

It was a very good day for Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) as he took nine bonus seconds over the course of the stage, jumping above Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the GC to sit in second overall behind race leader, Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) by 13 seconds.