Place Name: Grande Rue
Address: 24 Grande Rue, 07410 Colombier-le-Vieux, France
Details: March 12, 2026
The riders will make good progress today on their mission towards Nice and the Côte d'Azur. Stage 5 is the longest stage of the week at 206KM from Cormoranche-sur-Saône to Colombier-Le-Vieux and runs along the Western banks of the Saône and then the Rhône, South of Lyon. For the first 145KM of the race, the riders will mostly stay in the hills to the West of the rivers on constantly rolling roads. Only through the town of Serrières with 60KM to go does the race enter the Rhône river valley for a few kilometers of flat riding. The problem with coming down to the river is that the course makes several incursions back up into the hills where the difficulties lie in the last 40KM. The first is the Côte de Sécheras, a 4KM climb at nearly 7% which crests at 34KM to go. The riders head back down to the river and quickly find the base of the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, a 2.2KM climb at over 10%. Just 10KM separates the summits of the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzol and the next climb of the Côte de Saint-Barthélemy-le-Plain, a 3KM climb at 7% which tops out 7KM from the finish. A short descent will take the riders to the base of the final ramp, a 4.6KM climb at just under 4% up to the finish in Colombier-Le-Vieux. The repetitive nature of the last few climbs will make the GC group selective and, based on Vingegaard's form, could put the nail in the coffin of his rivals.
Sunglasses were necessary at the start, not due to rain but glorious sunshine that the bunch surely deserved. A large break of eight strong riders got clear including Aleksandr Vlasov of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Josh Tarling of Ineos, Rémi Cavagna of Groupama-FDJ United, Iván Romeo, Jefferson Cepeda, and Lorenzo Milesi of Movistar, Nicolas Prodhomme of Decathlon CMA CGM, and Victor Campenaerts of Visma-Lease a Bike. With 57KM to go, the gap was 1 minute 50 seconds with Visma-Lease a Bike pulling quite hard in the peloton which allowed Campenaerts a free ride in the break.
The break was losing time, second by second, and with 37.5KM to go, they turned away from the Rhône to start climbing the Côte de Sécheras with a reduced advantage of 1 minute 10 seconds. Visma-Lease a Bike were completely washed away from the front of the peloton as they started to climb. Soudal Quickstep took up the pace but the Dutch squad found themselves and started ripping up the climb with Bruno Armirail on the front. Cepeda emerged as the best climber from the break and went over the top still holding 1 minute 10 seconds. He was now alone however and the GC favorites group was gaining momentum behind.
Back on the valley road heading towards the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, Ineos started to chase and the gap to Cepeda tumbled. By the the bottom of the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzols with 22KM to go, Cepeda had just 35 seconds. Campenaerts set the pace for Jonas Vingegaard when the road started to climb and the group went from 35 riders down to 15 very quickly. Cepeda was caught within a few hundred meters from the bottom and it was becoming every man for themselves. Campenaerts accelerated 1KM from the top and, second overall, Dani Martinez of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, went backwards. Vingegaard attacked the group which was down to just Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin of Ineos, Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious, Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep, and Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana.
Over the top, Vingegaard was clear with a healthy gap. Vauquelin, Lenny Martinez, Paret-Peintre, and Tejada had formed the chase but were already over 30 seconds behind. On the descent, Dani Martinez regained contact with the Vauquelin group along with Georg Steinhauser of EF-Education EasyPost and Mathys Rondel of Tudor Pro Cycling to make seven in the chase. More numbers in the chase weren't beneficial because the gap was nearly 1 minute with 12KM to go at the base of the Côte de Saint-Barthélemy-le-Plain. The mentality changed from chase to attack as second place became the best possible outcome. Punch after punch was thrown and the haymaker came from Paret-Peintre just before the top with 9KM to go. The others looked completely empty and Paret-Peintre was able to establish a gap. The pace went out of the Vauquelin group and more dropped riders were able to rejoin.
Up front, Vingegaard rode with a consistent power output and sailed to the finish to secure his second stage win and take a commanding lead in the GC. It took over 2 minutes for Paret-Peintre to come in for second place with Tejada leading a group of ten in for third, a further 20 seconds down. Vingegaard now leads the GC by 3 minutes 22 seconds over Dani Martinez and a staggering 5 minutes 50 seconds to Steinhauser in third.
Tags: Paris-Nice, 2026, Paris-Nice 2026, Stage 5, March, Cormoranche-sur-Saône, Colombier-Le-Vieux, Aleksandr Vlasov, Josh Tarling, Rémi Cavagna, Iván Romeo, Jefferson Cepeda, Lorenzo Milesi, Nicolas Prodhomme, Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail, Jonas Vingegaard, Oscar Onley, Kévin Vauquelin, Lenny Martinez, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Harold Tejada