Olav Kooij sprints to a super stage win on Tour de France debut, Torstein Traeen comfortably holds onto yellow

Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) kept himself in position and out of trouble before jumping clear to a first Tour de France stage victory, five days into his debut at the race.

The 24-year-old, unable to rely on his team-mates who were supporting Paul Seixas’ general classification tilt, instead surfed the wheels before coming off the lead-out of Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) to win by three bike lengths.

Favourites Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) were left scrambling for position having lost their supports in the chaos following a crash just outside the 5k safety zone.

The frantic finale came at the end of a short but snoozy road stage to Pau. The sprinters had experienced a long and arduous wait for their first opportunity at the 2026 Tour de France, and when it came, they weren’t going to let it pass.

Everyone else seemed to know that too, and only Lotto-Intermarche’s Baptiste Veistroffer emerged from the bunch when the race passed KM0.

That left the Frenchman with a long day on his own, which he took to admirably, even as he was allowed no more than a 3’30 lead over the peloton. Torstein Traeen’s Uno-X Mobility took up their yellow jersey responsibilities for the first stretch of the stage, while sprint squads Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal Quick-Step shared most of the rest. 

Veistroffer made it through the intermediate sprint - where Kanter showed the most interest from behind - and over the sole categorised climb. Fred Wright (Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) tried to use it as a launchpad for a move, taking Kasper Asgreen (EF Education EasyPost), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) with him for an inevitably short-lived excursion. 

After a long hot day of not a lot, legs and minds were always likely to wake up at different rates, and after a relatively incident-free first few days, the late crash - when it came - came as no real surprise.

It came just outside the 5km safety zone - after which any riders caught out would receive the same time as their group - and while the riders most directly affected were able to make it back up, it seemed to upset the expected big bunch finale. The main body of the peloton was broken up, with only a group of 20 riders getting to the flamme rouge at the front.

Of those, Astana was the only team with their lead-out train intact. Alpecin and Quickstep’s had fallen to pieces, leaving their sprinters to fend for themselves. That only rendered them equals of Kooij, who never expected to rely on his colleagues to guide him home anyway.

Despite this forced freelance role, through the final left-hand bend, 500m from the line, Kooij was perfectly placed behind Kanter, with two more Astana riders and an Uno-X ahead.

Merlier and Philipsen were at the bottom of the picture with a lot of ground to make up. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling) was on the wheel of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in 9th.

Kooij made his move 125m from the finish, accelerating into clear air, and swinging over to the right-hand side barriers. That gave him a gap of three bike lengths he never looked like relinquishing.

Merlier had been able to catch up, but not enough to finish higher than third. Lotto-Intermarche’s Huub Artz played a late blinder, dashing left and right and squeezing through gaps to secure 4th.

Despite some suspicion of gaps, after the chaos, the general classification riders all came home together, 14 seconds down.

Again, this profile is rubbish. Makes the Tourmalet look like a speedbump not the first HC climb of the whole race.

Sixty riders, including all of the main GC names, finished 14 seconds down.

Nice fact from Inrng.

1. Olav Kooij
2. Max Kanter
3. Tim Merlier
4. Huub Artz
5. Jasper Philipsen
6. Biniam Girmay
7. Mads Pedersen
8. Milan Fretin
9. Anthony Turgis
10. Soren Waerenskjold

Kanter will be most disappointed of those, given his lead-out, but still a best Grand Tour stage result for him, and he's very much in the green jersey mix.

I haven't seen Pogacar yet, though. There's more to come here.

Astana looked to be in change but it was Kooij who zipped through on the right hand side and came round and sprinted clear 110m from the line. That was supposed to be a big bunch sprint but in the end there was at most 20 riders crossing the line on the same time.

Gaviria is in a good spot, amid the chaos. So is Philipsen but a long way back. A last left turn and it's almost over. It's all stretched out. Astana leading out for Kanter.

ER. I've spotted Merlier, as a Cofidis rider goes off the road on the left. Uno X continue to drive this.

Traeen is definitely on the wrong side of it, so where's Sean Quinn? Where's Merlier too?

Just outside the sprint zone, a right turn and some odd furniture sees Aurelien Paret Peintre on the deck, an NSN rider and someone from Caja Rural. QuickStep look concerned. Are they worried about Merlier?

Is that for Benjamin Thomas? Would make sense, I think. Uno X are there but not with Traeen, for Abrahamsen I think.

10KM TO GO: DOWNHILL TOWARDS PAU

The bunch stringing out a bit, as we head to Pau for the 77th time in the history of the Tour de France. Jasper Philipsen was the last male winner here, two years ago. Can he do it again?

And it looks like the GC teams are already backing out of things, which should make it safer even from now to that magic marker. It's basically a gentlemen's agreement to neutralise the overall, but it obviously only works if everyone accepts it, or at least the main names.

Back in the bunch, but he has indeed been named the most combative rider of the day. Chapeau that man.

And a few teams on the wrong side of the road are forced the long way around, costing them about 50 places. That shouldn't make much difference. The bunch gallop is on.

It wasn't happening, but you have to applaud the effort. He wouldn't have tried if he didn't have good legs. Veistroffer is the only rider still out there, but now with just 12 seconds.

The host broadcasters are calling it the Paret-Peintre group, but I know better. I'll tell you, Veistroffer will be peeved if he now loses out on the combativity prize.