Tour de Suisse 2026 – Stage 5: Pogacar leaves the competition in his wake on the queen stage

With over 4,000 metres of climbing, the final stage was also the queen stage. The organisers designed a section of the route as a circuit comprising three laps over the Col de la Croix. In the end, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) once again demonstrated his class in the tour and won the 5th stage in Villars-sur-Ollon.

Lenny Martinez caught just before the finish line

Eight kilometres from the finish, Pogacar broke away from the group of favourites on the final climb and then caught one rider after another from the former breakaway group. Pogacar caught the last rider, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), at the Flamme Rouge. Martinez crossed the line in second place, seven seconds behind. Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), also from the leading group, finished third, 1 minute and 33 seconds behind. Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost), who was second in the general classification, crossed the line two minutes behind.

Pogacar thus won a total of three of the five stages of the Tour de Suisse. His lead of 6:32 minutes over the runner-up, Carapaz, is the largest in the history of the Tour de Suisse. The previous record stood at 4:46 minutes between the overall winner and the closest challenger. Third place in the general classification went to Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), who finished 6:53 minutes behind – he also won the young rider classification. The points classification also went to Pogacar, whilst the mountains classification was won by Louis Vervaeke (Soudal – Quick Step).

​​Tour de Suisse 2026 – Stage 5 results

Here’s how Stage 5 of the 2026 Tour de Suisse unfolded:

In an early breakaway group, Louis Vervaeke (Soudal – Quick Step) secured the six points at the Col de la Croix mountain classification (2nd category), which was initially ridden as only a half-climb. Shortly afterwards, a 14-man leading group formed, comprising Bauke Mollema (Lidl – Trek), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Mauro Schmid, Paul Double (Jayco – AlUla), Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe), Bart Lemmen (Visma – Lease a Bike), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal – Quick Step), Andrew August (Netcompany – Ineos), Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic – PostNL), Lenny Martinez and Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious). The group built up a lead of around two minutes.

Vervaeke secures the King of the Mountains classification

On the second ascent of the Col de la Croix (HC category), this time over the full distance, Vervaeke once again won the mountain classification, thereby securing the overall mountain classification title. In the peloton, UAE Team Emirates – XRG controlled the chase, led primarily by Nils Politt. The gap remained at around two minutes.

As the peloton tackled the third climb (HC category), the leading group gradually thinned out. Andrew August fell back, as did Paul Double and Afonso Eulalio. Martinez eventually won the mountain classification 48 kilometres from the finish – at that point, the lead was still around 1 minute 30 seconds.

Pogacar springs into action and leaves everyone in his wake

Eight riders from the leading group eventually reached the ten-kilometre-long final climb to Villars-sur-Ollon. Bert Lemmen immediately launched an attack from the group and was joined by Martinez and Quintana. With 8.3 kilometres to go, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) launched the expected attack, which none of his rivals could follow. Behind him, Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) initially tried to keep the gap to a minimum. But Pogacar quickly built up a lead of 30 seconds or more. At the same time, Pogacar caught rider after rider from the leading group.

At the front, Martinez broke away from Quintana and Lemmen 6.6 kilometres from the finish. With 4.5 kilometres to go, Pogacar was his closest pursuer, 27 seconds behind. Martinez held him off successfully for a long time, but at the Flamme Rouge, Pogacar overtook the visibly exhausted Frenchman and went on to claim the stage victory.