Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 5: For fast men #1

fotobureau Cor VosAll signs point to the Tour de France's first bunch sprint being decided on the streets of Pau. So, gentlemen sprinters, on your marks, get set... go! (Slideshow route/profile)

First published on 18 June - last updated 8 July: weather forecast updated

With 1,600 metres of climbing, the route is far from pancake-flat, but that is unlikely to prevent a bunch sprint. The only categorised climb, the Côte de Baleix, could have posed a problem for the fast men with its 1 kilometre at 8.8%, but not at this point, with 25.6 kilometres still remaining. The entire run-in is flat to gently rolling.

After winning three sprints in 2024, Jasper Philipsen made a flying start to last year's Tour by sprinting into the yellow jersey on the opening day. At the next opportunity for the sprinters, he crashed heavily and was forced to abandon the race on the spot. Tim Merlier went on to win that stage and added another victory later in the race. The only other bunch sprint was won by Jonathan Milan.

On paper, Olav Kooij, Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier are the fastest sprinters in this year's Tour. They recently went head to head at the Tour of Belgium, where honours ended even, with each of them taking one stage victory. On one occasion, however, another sprinter got the better of them, as Girmay claimed victory in the opening stage.

Favourites 5th stage - 2026 Tour de France

*** Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij
** Biniam Girmay, Mads Pedersen, Max Kanter, Arvid de Kleijn
* Fernando Gaviria, Pascal Ackermann, Pavel Bittner, Phil Bauhaus

Weather forecast:
Another hot day awaits the riders in the Tour, although temperatures will be slightly lower than on stage 4. There will be very little wind throughout the day. At the finish, the sprinters can expect a light tail-crosswind of around 9 km/h.

Start: 31°C, sunny, north-easterly wind (11 km/h)
Finish: 34°C, sunny, north-easterly wind (9 km/h)

Another interesting read: route 5th stage 2026 Tour de France.