Van Aert flies back to winning ways
June 11 th 2026 - 17:37
Narrowly edged by the breakaway on day 4, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) made the most of the opportunity handed out to the sprinters at the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes. In his return to the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, four years after his last participation, the Belgian star unleashed his power to claim a sixth victory in the race. He has now won at least one stage in each of his participations in the event: two in 2019, one in 2020, two in 2022, and another in this 78th edition. This time, he got the better of Hugo Hofstetter (NSN) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to take his second victory on the road this season, a couple of months after winning Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) finished inside the bunch to retain the yellow and blue leader’s jersey ahead of three mountainous stages set to decide the overall winner of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Finally a day for the sprinters? Attackers have ruled supreme over the first few stages, including yesterday in Montrond-les-Bains, where Quinn Simmons and his breakaway companions narrowly resisted the bunch. Stage 5 presents some climbing again, especially at the start from Saint-Chamond, but the run-in to Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes is flat. The question is whether sprint teams can control the stage over 195.8 kilometres.
Six riders in the breakaway
Following the withdrawals of Jefferson Cepeda, Ivan Romeo (Movistar) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), 141 riders are at the start in Saint-Chamond. They face the Côte de la Croix-Blanche straight away, and it is almost within sight of the summit that a group of six riders breaks away, comprising Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies), Julen Arriola-Bengoa (Caja Rural), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Robbe Dhondt (Picnic PostNL).
This group soon realise that the peloton will grant them only a narrow margin, as the Cofidis and Visma-Lease a Bike teams spring into action as soon as the clock shows 2’40”, at the 11 km mark.
Their move is furthermore threatened by a series of counter-attacks that temporarily bring the peloton within 20 seconds. The scare is short-lived, however, and the breakaway riders eventually regain ground to reach a maximum lead of 2’45’’ at km 57.
Van Aert delivers
The peloton is wary of headwinds. And sprinters don’t want to miss out on their only opportunities to win before the mountainous final three stages. Bahrain Victorious and Tudor also participate in the chase.
The gap gradually decreases: around two minutes as Julen Arriola-Bengoa goes first at the intermediate sprint (km 108.7); a minute and a half into the last 70 kilometres; under a minute with just over 40 kilometres remaining…
Hugo Houle is distanced by his breakaway companions 17 kilometres away from the line. The rest of the attackers are eventually caught with 5 kilometres to go.
Visma-Lease a Bike lead the charge into the last kilometre with an impressive Edoardo Affini. And Wout van Aert delivers the stage win with a dominant sprint to resist Hugo Hofstetter (NSN) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to the end.
