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Their advantage is already over a minute and fast rising.
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).
Climb
Pepijn Reijnderink (Soudal Quick-Step) claims the lone point on offer at the summit of Cat.4 Côte de la Croix-Blanch.
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
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.
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.
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.
🎊 Stage 5 is underway! 🎊 C’est parti pour l’étape 5 du #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes pic.twitter.com/1wJ0LYZsIzJune 11, 2026
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The peloton is now on the 5.3 kilometre neutralised section by the way.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.