Starting in the Hautes-Pyrénées village of Lannemezan for a sixth time, the Tour de France offers a straightforward affair across 158.3km to Pau for stage 5. It's set up for a charge among the sprinters, who have yet found flat territory to flash their speed. In fact, only twice in the last three decades, 2015 and 1992, has the Tour made it past stage 4 without a bunch sprint.
Points at finish: 70-50-40-35-30-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Riders won't find any bonus points on offer for the first 113.5 kilometres until the one intermediate sprint finally arrives at Vic-en-Bigorre. Then 29km later there is a one-kilometre categorised climb at Côte de Baleix, with a punchy 8.8% incline.
There is no major drop-off from the crest of the climb, just rolling terrain for 25 kilometres to the finish for the sprinters' teams to wind up and unleash their torpedoes at Place de Verdun.
This is the 77th time the Tour has visited Pau, the third most visited city on the route with a dense population and strategic location for climbing in the Pyrenees. Sprinters typically get a chance to flourish on the flat roads, with Jasper Philipsen the most recent winner in 2024.
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Profile for stage 5 at the 2026 Tour de France
(Image credit: ASO)
Route map of stage 5 at the 2026 Tour de France
(Image credit: ASO)
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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