The accident occurred 95 kilometres before the finish of the 170-kilometre longest section of the tour, which was ridden seven times on a circuit around Stirling. Suddenly, two kangaroos jumped onto the road. "The European riders always ask me what the most dangerous animal in Australia is. And I say kangaroos," said Vine at the finish line, feeling vindicated. "They wait and hide in the bushes and then they jump out right in front of you and you can no longer stop
"Everyone always asks me what the most dangerous thing in Australia is - and I always say kangaroos," said Vine after the race about the incident around 96 kilometres before the end of the race, of which only the end could be seen on TV, when Vine and Co. were already lying on the road and a kangaroo hopped off the road - apparently dazed or injured. Two of them chased through the peloton when we were travelling at about 50 km/h. One then stopped, went from left to right and back to left and then I hit it. That's bad luck, but fortunately I was able to continue and keep the jersey," said Vine, whose ochre-coloured bib was clearly marked after the crash.
But not all the pros were so lucky. Among other things, two other UAE riders also had to finish the race, meaning that the team only had three riders finish. The final day of the tour also saw a total of twelve tasks.
Brenner finishes Tour Down Under in fourth place
These circumstances may also have ensured that the stage was ultimately decided in a sprint, contrary to expectations. Behind winner Brennan, Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) rode to second place on the difficult last kilometre, in which the very last metres before the finish line were relatively flat again. Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished third. There were no more changes in the top places in the overall standings. Behind Vine, Swiss rider Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) finished in second place, 1:03 minutes behind, while another Australian, Harry Sweeny (EF Education - Easy Post), secured a podium place. Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who like Georg Zimmermann (Lotto - Intermarché) was one of the 29 riders in the first group, was also able to defend his fourth place in the overall standings.
Zimmermann made it through the final day in 20th place overall. Anton Schiffer (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) even finished his first WorldTour in 14th place. The 26-year-old had been working for Brennan in the finale and finished eight seconds ahead of the winner.
Andresen won the points classification of the tour with a clear lead over Brennan. Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility) also took the mountain jersey with ease. The best young pro was Andrea Raccagni (Soudal Quick-Step), the 21-year-old Italian finished sixth overall. The team classification went to Jayco AlUla.
Tour Down Under 2026 - Results stage 5
Stage 5: Stirling - Stirling
Santos Tour Down Under 2026: Stage 5, Stirling - Stirling
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 03:58:08 |
| 2 | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | Decathlon CMA CGM Team | +00:00:00 |
| 4 | NSN Cycling Team | +00:00:00 |
| 5 | XDS Astana Team | +00:00:00 |
| 6 | Australia | +00:00:00 |
How the 5th stage of the Tour Down Under 2026 went
In line with the profile, which offered opportunities for various scenarios, the start of the stage was nervous. Numerous riders tried to break away from the peloton on the first lap. However, neither a group nor a soloist was able to make a sustained move. This was only achieved by Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step), who then received support from Robert Stannard (Bahrain - Victorious) and formed the group of the day as a trio. It was almost halfway through the race when a fourth man, Pavel Novak (Movistar Team), who had been fighting alone in the wind for a long time, joined them from behind.
The breakaway's lead had already melted from over two minutes to around one minute. But then the kangaroo accident occurred in the peloton. Because the peloton waited for the overall leader Vine, who had crashed, before picking up speed again, the leading quartet suddenly had a lead of almost four minutes. However, a coalition of several teams organised themselves in the peloton and wanted to finish the race in a sprint. And so, two laps before the end, the clock again showed a gap of around one and a half minutes. The leading group also fell apart.
New racing situation with Buitrago and Co.
When only Eenkhoorn and Stannard were left of the former leading quartet on the final lap, the peloton became restless again. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious), the two Movistar riders Jefferson Cepeda and Javier Romo as well as Gal Glivar (Alpecin - Premier Tech) attacked. They made it to the front to join Stannard, who in the meantime had also shaken off Eenkhoorn and suffered the same fate a short time later. The new leading quartet went into the final 15 kilometres with just under half a minute.
While Romo worked for Cepeda and then lost touch, the remaining trio made it to the two-kilometre final climb, with ten seconds left at the start. But that wasn't going to be enough. With 800 metres to go, the breakaway was caught, giving the sprinters the chance to decide the day's victory among themselves.
