Olav Kooij wins the first battle among sprinters in the Tour de France and fulfills Decathlon's bet

Olav Kooij achieved his first victory in the Tour de France in Pau. The Dutchman from Decathlon CMA CGM won the fifth stage, covering 158.3 kilometers from Lannemezan, on a day that seemed destined for a massive sprint but ended up marked by falls and splits in the final kilometers.

Olav Kooij debuts his palmarès in the Tour after a chaotic finish in Pau

The stage had a single protagonist for almost the entire day: Baptiste Veistroffer. This Frenchman who four years ago was not even a professional cyclist, worked for the Navy building ships, attacked from kilometer zero and rode solo for 144 kilometers. He passed first through the intermediate sprint and the Côte de Baleix, the only categorized climb of the day, before being neutralized about 15 kilometers from the finish. His effort earned him the combativity prize.

From there, the battle of the trains began. Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal Quick-Step worked for Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier, Cofidis prepared the arrival for Milan Fretin, and XDS Astana positioned Max Kanter very well. But the finish in Pau was much more nervous than expected.

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A fall before the safety zone broke the peloton and opened splits with consequences for the general classification. Michael Matthews was among those affected, and Jasper Stuyven also got caught. The final approach, with two turns in the last kilometer, ended up leaving a reduced and very difficult-to-control sprint.

Kooij did not wait too long. He launched his sprint from afar, held off Kanter's comeback, and crossed the finish line first to secure a highly valuable victory in his Tour debut. Tim Merlier was third, with Huub Artz fourth and Jasper Philipsen fifth.

We remember that Kooij is one of the two debutants in the Tour that Decathlon brings as team leaders, the other is Paul Seixas.

Torstein Træen retains the yellow jersey before the first major mountain day, in which the Tour will leave Pau and tackle the Tourmalet.

Top 10 stage 5 Tour France 2026

1. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) – 3:29:07
2. Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) +0
3. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) +0
4. Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarché) +0
5. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) +0
6. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) +0
7. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +0
8. Milan Fretin (Cofidis) +0
9. Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) +0
10. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) +0

General after stage 5 Tour France 2026

1. Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) – 16:32:07
2. Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) – +0:28
3. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) – +3:50
4. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – +7:53
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – +7:53
6. Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – +8:06
7. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) – +8:16
8. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – +8:17
9. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) – +8:20
10. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) – +8:41