That concludes our live coverage of stage 5 of the 2026 Vuelta a España. Make sure you stay across our site throughout the evening as news from the ground rolls in, and come back tomorrow for more coverage from stage 7, from Alcossebre to Castelló.

Here’s a look at the profile for tomorrow’s sixth stage. It looks to be a perfect route for breakaway hopefuls, especially with the massive lead Pogačar and UAE already have over everyone else.

However, the problem with that is usually when everyone expects a break, the formation takes much longer, and it becomes easier for UAE to control and launch their leader to another win.

Also with a gravel sector on the vicious Puerto del Bartolo climb (9km at 7.1%) coming in the final 30km, there’s more than enough room for the GC battle to explode again, especially when it comes to the fight for the podium.

The likes of Felix Gall and Oscar Onley could see this as the stage where they make the different if they are feeling strong, which again, would make another Pogačar look more likely if Decathlon pace as they did on stage 4. Either way, it’s not one to be missed.

When it comes to the classifications after stage 5, there’s been no change to any of the jerseys, with Pogačar maintaining his hold over the red leader’s, the green points, and the blue and white polka-dot King of the Mountains jerseys, and Oscar Onley remains in white as the Best Young Rider.

Ethan Hayter’s efforts in the breakaway earned him a trip to the final podium after stage 5, as the most combative rider.

If you’re only just catching up, make sure to discover all the action from today’s fifth stage with our race report:

Vuelta a España: Matthew Brennan sprints to second win on stage 5 as late climb fails to drop sprinter

Tadej Pogačar got through a tricky stage unscathed in the red jersey. He maintains his 3:21 lead over Primož Roglič in second. Here’s a look at the GC top 10 after 5 stages:

Here’s what the calm and composed Brennan had to say after his second stage win of this year’s Vuelta:

“It’s not a bad one! It’s better than a normal day job, but yeah, it’s fantastic. Second one in the bag, first Grand Tour. Everyone just went full throughout the day, so I’m very thankful to finish it off again. The boys are also quite relieved,” Brennan said after the stage.

“It was pretty spot-on, to be fair,” he said of the Visma lead-out. “We had the two boys pulling on front until the final few kilometres, and then Wout [Van Aert] and Christoph [Laporte] are probably some of the—in fact, the best—guys you can have in the world for this type of thing. They supported me all the way into the final.

“At the last corner, I lost my wheel a bit. The paint was a little bit slippery, but thankfully, I stayed safe. Christoph also felt that a little bit, but managed it really well, so I’m glad we could finish with the arms in the air.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a sprinter, but I can climb a little bit, so on this type of terrain, it works really nicely – especially with the support I have here. Even Stevie [Kruijswijk] and Bruno [Armirail], these guys were just so strong. When you’ve got these guys with you, it really gives you the confidence to go and try to achieve more.”

The winning moment for Brennan on stage 5, who is quickly becoming the star everyone expected him to. Quite stunning power and climbing ability on show once again from the 21-year-old.

Here’s what luxury lead-out man Wout van Aert had to say after the finish:

“When you have Matthew Brennan there in a group like that, it’s the best card to play and I don’t even need to see the replay to see how he finished that one off,” said the Belgian.

Asked if it feels as good as winning himself, the Belgian was honest, saying “yeah,” before admitting with a smile, “It comes close.”

What’s clear to see is that Van Aert – ever the selfless rider he is – is happy to ride for the Brit knowing that he is the more likely option to win on days like today, and that should he ever request the support of the young super talent, that has more than been guaranteed by his support in the last few days.

Here’s a look at the top 10 on stage 5, with Jordi Meeus taking a solid second place, and Vincenzo Albanese finishing third. Such was the power of Laporte’s final lead-out that he finished seventh after sitting up.

Stage 5 finish

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) storms to victory on stage 5 of the 2026 Vuelta a España. He takes his second Grand Tour stage win on debut at a three-week race after an absolutely textbook lead-out from Visma, with Van Aert and Laporte giving him a red carpet ride into the final few hundred metres.

Brennan hits the front and try as they may, he’s going to win again!

Laporte takes the Brit through the final corner, can he take the win again?

Van Aert hits the front and does his job through 600 metres to go. Brennan has Meeus sat on his wheel.

1km to go

Visma have navigated the turns perfectly for now and Brennan is in pole position to win his second stage on Grand Tour debut.

Brennan has Van Aert and Laporte in front of him, it’s just a question of whether Visma can get it right again…

Cofidis are moving Coquard up on the right hand side of the road, but the hectic nature of this bunch is making it difficult to move up.

Uno-X are leading, with Visma just behind them approaching the two crucial right-hand corners, where the race will likely be decided.

3km to go

Suddenly the race has exploded into life, with Movistar and Uno-X now leading the rapid bunch. Sprint approach is fully on now.

The pace is hotting up now into the final 4km. More teams are moving up to try and position their sprinters, and UAE are moving out of the danger zone to help Pogačar arrive in one piece to Roquetes.

5km to go

The pace in the peloton is high but not at full gas yet. Ben Tulett is continuing to do the work for Visma on his 25th birthday. Brennan will be the heavy favourite to double up, but getting it right will be different through the final corners.

Visma continue to set the pace into the final 6km. UAE are sat in second position just to stay safe with Pogačar.

Could it be a day for Le Coq? Bryan Coquard has made it into this front group for Cofidis as he continues to hunt a maiden Grand Tour stage win. Also in the bunch is Alberto Dainese, prompting Soudal-QuickStep to move up towards the front.

10km to go

After that wave of attacks, Visma have retaken control on the front to try and bring Brennan into the finale with the best shot.

Riders in the peloton and expected to battle out the stage win if it does go to a sprint:
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Orluis Aular (Movistar)
Pau Miquel (Bahrain Victorious)
Ben Turner (Netcompany Ineos)

Visma are in the driving seat for the moment with the personnel they have in the peloton, but they need to be careful with how they play this. Van Aert chasing moves is allowing Brennan to sit comfortably with Laporte who will probably be his last lead-out man.

Azparren isn’t going to give up easily. He attacks again on the downhill roads, but once again, Van Aert is on his case and chasing him down.

Attack

It’s not going to be simple after all: Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5) makes his move and attacks on the final kicker on the route. Van Aert has chased his down, but as have UAE, who are curiously still pacing hard on the front.

20km to go

With headwind in the finale, a bunch sprint is all but guaranteed for now, but the TV broadcast has just previewed the final 200 metres, where there are multiple bends in the finale and what looks to be a recipe for chaos. We’ll see how we go when we get there.

UAE lead the peloton over the climb and onto this next descent. That’s most of the climbing down on stage 5, with just one small kicker remaining on the route before the downhill and flat run to the line in Roquetes. Terres de l’Ebre.

25km to go

Brennan and Van Aert are both still in this front group with Visma looking in a great position to attack this finale.

Suddenly, UAE are on the front with three riders in front of Pogačar – Sivakov, Vine and young Spaniard Torres.

Mads Pedersen has dropped on this climb, with 2.6km to go to the summit and he may be paying for those early efforts in the crosswinds. He’s on the radio, telling his teammates what has happened.

As Kaden Groves gets dropped, Alpecin-Premier Tech have gone to plan B and it’s the Austrian champion Michael Gogl pushing on the front – he doesn’t have many teammates near him, so it is curious who he may be riding for.

This may be an expected sprint stage, but for safety, it’s GC riders everywhere towards the front. Pogačar, Onley and Roglič all in the front seven wheels.

Turning onto the climb with 28.5km to go and it’s a narrow road on this Puerto de Paüls. Still a long way to go, but this is going to be nervous for everyone. Pogačar is positioned perfectly on the front.

30km to go

Ineos, Trek, and UAE move back into control on the front as every team is battling on the front to get the ideal position for the descent and approach to the climb. With the pace hotting up, Kron’s 40-second advantage has evapourated and he’s been caught with Tarling and Turner absolutely flying.

After the uncategorised climb, the descent will lead the riders onto the Puerto de Paüls (4km at 7.1%), where the lower section is the hardest. This is where attacks could come, but also the pressure should be applied by the punchiest fast men hoping to drop the pure sprinters.

Kaden Groves is off the back of the bunch and he’s with a teammate. It’s not clear what happened to the Aussie but the Alpecin pair are chasing to get back in before the next uncategorised climb.

Kron is pushing on out in front with a tailwind still helping to push him along. His advantage has grown out to 35 seconds, with riders at the front of the peloton looking around at each other, waiting for the action to kick off.

He’s not had much to do in the way of attacking today, but Pogačar hasn’t put on a foot wrong in the nervy crosswinds, or in the approach to this hill section. His positioning is still perhaps his most underrated characteristic.

Kron is not being allowed much of an advantage as the peloton presses on, He’s just 19 seconds in front, even without the bunch fully kicking off.

Uno-X Mobility have launched an attack after the pace came out of the bunch. It’s a former Vuelta stage winner in Andreas Kron, but he’s without company for the moment though.

45km to go

As the stage goes on, you can see more of the teams who are also interested coming towards the front away from Ineos, UAE and Visma. Red Bull are right there, hoping Jordi Meeus can make it over the climbs. Alpecin will be hoping Kaden Groves can inspire some of his previous best at the Vuelta as a seven-time stage winner – he’s not been at 100% throughout 2026, but in years gone by, this would have been a nailed on Groves finale.

As I typed that, Visma moved back to the front and pace has been knocked off – there are splits at the back of the peloton, though, with the constant up and down sections seeing several riders miss the moves after a tough, nervous day of racing.

Netcompany Ineos are now in control on the front as things continue to heat up. While they also want to keep Onley safe, former U23 World Champion Axel Laurance is also a good option for a reduced sprint today.

There’s been a change on the front with UAE moving into front position and setting quite a hard tempo on this first section of uncategorised climbing. This could be for positioning, though, and just to lessen the chaos later on when there will be lots of fighting for position.

Hayter is back in the peloton, but the calm control which Visma had established will soon be challenged. Taking a look at the profile for the stage, you can see the spattering of uncategorised hills and the category 3 Alto de Paüls in the final 56km. Lots of teams will be hoping for a sprint, but someone will surely light things up to try and lessen the competition…

60km to go

Hayter has successfully taken the maximum 20 points at the intermediate sprint. Van Aert takes second place for 17 points, pointing to his ambitions for the remainder of the Vuelta.

Here’s a look back at some of the echelons that formed earlier on stage 5, and you can see Hayter in the green jersey. His poor positioning saw him miss out, but after things came back together, he’s now leading the stage, 34 seconds ahead of the Visma-led peloton.

70km to go

Hayter continues to motor ahead on his own. He’s had the day after getting dropped several times when the race was splitting momentarily, to now leading stage 5. If he can survive in front, he’ll gain 20 points at the intermediate sprint once he reaches Tivenys.

Attack

Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) is on the move once again. After some rotten luck in the opening few days, the Brit is out in pursuit of the points at the intermediate sprint point. It’s a curious move, as this won’t get him into the jersey, but I guess he’s showing himself at the front of the race once again.

Given how active Van Aert has been in this windy section to try and split things, it looks like Visma’s plan A for the finale today will be Matthew Brennan – which should be no surprise given how well he climbed and then sprinted in the finale of stage 2.

80km to go

Racing is all back together but I wouldn’t say calm by any means. The wind doesn’t seem strong enough to form major splits, but that hasn’t lessened the nerves by any means.

Lidl-Trek and Visma are the favourites for today with Matt Brennan and Mads Pedersen, and it’s getting tactical in this front group as the killer bees keep applying the pressure on the front.

We’ve turned from crosswind to cross-tail, and though the pace lulled momentarilly, Visma are back on the front and pushing with Wout van Aert stretching the bunch.

90km to go

Visma-Lease a Bike are now in control on the front of the peloton as the race rolls on. With that threat of splits not materialising, riders are taking the opportunity to take a feed from the team cars.

That nervous build-up seems to have come to nothing with the stragglers all returning to the back of the group. With the wind not strong enough and perhaps no team wanting to fully commit after a tough mountain stage yesterday, calm has returned to the bunch.

With all of the GC favourites staying well positioned at the front, that moment of chaos has ended for the moment. The pace has been knocked off and the splits behind are almost all back in the peloton.

Splits in the peloton

The four-man breakaway has been caught and the race is splitting up already. This brutal pressure from Lidl-Trek has spit several riders out the back already and the race is now in three big splits.

Lidl-Trek are leading for the moment with Mads Pedersen working for Mattias Skjelmose.

Such is the high speed, splits are already forming down in the peloton. The race is through that town I mentioned and that exposed section is upcoming. Some riders could see their Vuelta hopes disappear in these next 20km.

100km to go

Crossing over the Río Ebro, the peloton is already fracturing and lined out fully with the pace full-on in the front. Even race leader Pogačar is staying up in the first five wheels to ensure he doesn’t miss anything.

Netcompany Ineos are in control for the moment, with white jersey Oscar Onley in second wheel as the race heads through this crucial town, where the exit will bring them into the exposed crosswind sections where positioning will be vital.

With the nerves building up before a potentially threatening crosswind section, the pace has stabilised for a moment. The four breakaway riders still lead, but by just over a minute.

110km to go

A look inside the calm before the storm in the peloton.

If you needed any confirmation of how windy it is. One of the race doctors attending to the injuries of David de la Cruz (Pinarello Q36.5) has just lost his hat hanging out the side of the medical car.

With the wind blowing strong in Catalonia, the pace is up in the peloton, fighting for position to ensure if things do split, they don’t miss out. Coming up soon will be a change of direction, and on exposed roads, the crosswinds could have a major effect on stage 5…

120km to go

Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Lotto-Intermarché) has abandoned the race after a crash in the peloton.

And while we’re on the topic of Pogačar, yesterday’s 50km triumph was his longest solo win at a Grand Tour. Looking back at the modern dap emulator of Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx, Senior News Writer Dani Ostanek has dived into the Slovenian’s longest solo victories, between the Classics, Worlds, and GTs:

Tadej Pogačar just logged the biggest solo victory of his Grand Tour career – here’s how it stacks up in his gallery of lone raids

A look at red jersey Pogačar sitting comfortably in the peloton during stage 5 of the Vuelta a España. Having extended his race lead out to more than three minutes yesterday, he can now focus on staying safe and attacking the next mountain days – but don’t rule him out of attacking in the punchy approach if others kick off the action.

Make sure to read our Senior Staff Writer Alasdair Fotheringham’s on the ground analysis of his dominant performance yesterday and what it means for the rest of the race:

What now for the Vuelta a España? After Tadej Pogačar’s trademark display of GC power, a normally unpredictable race heads into uncharted territory – Analysis

130km to go

The race is heading over an uncategorised section of climbing for the moment, which has seen the breakaway’s lead reduced to just 1:10. The average speed is just a touch under 50kph.

The early breakaway is struggling against the now Netcompany Ineos-led peloton pulling behind them. The British team have reduced the deficit to just 1:35.

Küng has sat up to wait for the peloton, leaving just four riders in front with 140km to go. With the gap under two minutes, it’s likely the Swiss rider didn’t see any hope of potential victory in the current situation.

Here’s a look back at the initial move made by Dversnes, which sparked the formation of the early breakaway on stage 5.

145km to go

The gap has now stablisied at 2:15. It’s likely the stage settles into a holding pattern for now, but there are still punchy parts of the route to contend with where more action should follow.

A look inside the early action with five riders getting up the road to start stage 5. Their advantage has extended out to 2:20!

The gap is going in the right direction for the five leaders, now out to just more than a minute. Is that the break formation over?

160km

Four riders have successfully bridged across the Dversnes to form a leading group of five: Walter Calzoni (Pinarello Q36.5), Stefan Küng (Tudor), Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL), and Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharm). They now lead the peloton by 25 seconds.

Here’s a look at the jersey wearer’s on stage 5:

King of the Mountains – Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana)
Race leader – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Points classification – Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep)
Best Young Rider – Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos)

But also a reminder that Pogačar is actually leading in the first three classifications, with the Italian and Brit only donning the jerseys on his behalf as they sit second in KOM and points respecitvely. Pogačar is no longer eligible for the white jersey he won seven years ago at the Vuelta.

The first attack of the day has come from a Giro d’Italia stage winner from this season, Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), with several counter attacks being launched to try and join the Norwegian up front.

170km to go

Stage 5 of the Vuelta a España is finally underway! 181 riders took the start this afternoon with Uijtdebroeks the only non starter.

The start of stage 5 has been slightly delayed. There were several mechanicals during the neutralised start. Racing will begin 2.5 kilometres into the original route.

Very relaxed atmosphere at the start this morning, with the organisers even providing some pre-sign on entertainment for the riders. Former red jersey winner Sepp Kuss looking solid here in his decision making…

The riders are gone from the neutralised start of stage 5 at the Vuelta. They have 5.2 kilometres of neutral roads to compete with before racing gets going properly.

The big pre-stage news to bring you is that Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) has had to abandon the race after struggling through yesterday’s stage to finish last, feeling the effects of an earlier crash as his rotten luck continues. Read more about his nightmare stage below.

Cian Uijtdebroeks abandons the Vuelta a España following tearful last-place finish on stage 4

If you missed any of the action on Tuesday, make sure to catch up with our race report, detailing Tadej Pogačar completely decimation of his rivals at the first opportunity, winning with a 50km solo move.

Vuelta a España: Tadej Pogačar twists the knife with 50km solo raid in Andorra to win stage 4

Read our preview of today’s stage for a rundown of the route in Catalonia. Those who came to the fore on stage 2 are expected to feature again, the likes of Matthew Brennan and Wout van Aert (both Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Vuelta a España 2026 stage 5 preview: Will Tadej Pogačar take a break from attacking?

After the major GC action of stage 4, racing is expected to swing back in favour of the fast men on today’s flatter stage from Falset. Costa Daurada to Roquetes. Terres de l’Ebre on what is, finally, the first day of racing in Spain.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 5 of the Vuelta a España!