As it happened: Volta a Catalunya stage five finishes in bunch sprint as overall lead changes hands

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Peloton tackles 165.9km from Paüls to Amposta

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Hello and welcome to CyclingNews' live report of stage five at the Volta a Catalunya 2025.

There is some debate on what the length of today's stage is with some saying as little as 165.8km and others going as far as 172km. The road book says that the race is taking place between Paüls and Amposta over 172km, so we are going with that.

It should be a day for the sprinters and with Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) out, it could be down to a British showdown between Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) and Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), with Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and others having a go.

The fight for the GC is having a bit of a break today, although bonus seconds are available in the intermediate sprints. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) come into the day on the exact same time...

After his recent success here in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, Visma-Lease a Bike have added more big races to their 19-year-old star, Matthew Brennan, with another shot at glory today!

There has been some small changes to the stage today with the neutral start being extended slightly and the finish has been moved forwards 300 metres to avoid a speed bump. This may have contributed to the confusion about stage length. 

The riders are currently signing on for the stage in glorious sunshine. 

There's some strong wind today and a potential of echelons so the GC riders and sprinters alike will have to be wary on the more exposed parts of the stage. 

The stage length has changed to 165.9km after all due to the neutralised zone being extended to take out two fast descents and a small climb within the first few kilometres. A sensible decision in the view of safety. 

Neutral start

Mechanical

Mechanical

165.9km to go

Around 5km until they start climbing with the official start just over 10km into the stage for the 7.3km Coll de la Font which has an average gradient of 4% and a max of 8%.

Attack!

Leaders:

The peloton looks happy with this as they are already a minute down on the leaders. The first chasers make it to the front to form a group of five with two more about to join. 

The rider best placed in GC on the attack is Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi) who is well over 20 minutes down. This break is no danger at all to the race favourites. The sprinters teams will need to control this stage. 

Visma-Lease a Bike are putting a lot of trust into Matthew Brennan and are the team who come to the front to set the pace for the 19-year-old. They could maybe use the climb to test the legs of the more pure sprinters. 

Meanwhile, Castellon and Bizkarra are still chasing the leaders and are around 40" down. This looks like they may struggle to get to the front of the race today. 

The riders are now climbing. However, they don't officially start the Coll de La Font for another 5km. 

Bizkarra is showing his climbing skills and has dropped Castellon in the chase to join the leaders. 

Bizkarra has made the bridge across to the leaders with Castellon still in no-mans-land. 

Castellon finally makes it across to the breakaway. That makes it a seven man break with over two minutes back to the peloton. They have just started the category three climb of the Coll de La Font. 

Breakaway group:

150km to go

There are 3, 2 and 1 point(s) available at the top. Both first and second in the mountain standings are in the break, Bruno Armirail and Mats Wenzel. The Frenchman leads the young Luxembourger by just 3 points, so if Wenzel wins with no points for Armirail, the scores will be leveled up. 

Visma-Lease a Bike clearly are using the climb to test the legs of the pure sprinters as the gap up to the break has seen another 15" chopped of. They are just 1'15" ahead, now. 

The wind is about to become a crosswind at the top of the climb before becoming a cross-tail. The 24kph wind is coming from the west. This means that the majority of today's stage is crosswind. Echelons may be a factor!

With under a kilometre from the top of the Coll de La Font, the break has just over a minute on the peloton. 

KoM (Coll de La Font)

Just over 20km to the first of two intermediate sprints today. The first being in the town of Móra la Nova. There are the usual 3, 2 and 1 point(s) and bonus second(s) up for grabs. 

Still just a minute between the break and the peloton as the pace continues to be high after almost 40 minutes of racing. 

The peloton are extremely nervous on the descent with the pace extremely high. They are now within a minute to the leading group of seven riders. 

Crash!

After that crash the peloton has eased off the pace and the gap to the break is extending again with the gap of about a minute and a half. 

Mechanical

130km to go

Visma-Lease a Bike have been joined by EF Education-EasyPost and Picnic-PostNL on the front of the peloton as they work for Matthew Brennan, Marijn van den Berg and Pavel Bittner respectively. 

Just 5km to the intermediate sprint. After they deal with that in Móra la Nova, the race starts heading south towards the finish. They will be hit by a solid 22kph crosswind from their right. It remains to be sen if that is strong enough to split things. 

120km to go

Intermediate sprint (Móra la Nova)

There is now 90km of racing before the second and final intermediate sprint with no more KoM points, despite the rolling terrain. 

The riders have now turned and are heading south with that crosswind hitting them from the right. 

The peloton are just over a minute and a half down on the breakaway. 

Puncture

O'Connor gets back into the peloton. The bunch are now 1'20" behind the seven man break. 

100km to go

Reminder of the breakaway:

90km to go

The break are now within a minute as the peloton turns on the pace once again. Could this spell the end for the seven riders time out front?

80km to go

It has been a pretty simple day, so far, for Primož Roglič and his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team. 

Just 25 seconds split the peloton and the breakaway! This looks like it is coming back. 

Two hours of racing done and the average speed is 45.7kph. 

Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) has sat up from the break and is about to rejoin the peloton. 

Caught by peloton

Jokin Murguialday and Enzo Paleni still have a gap of about 10" on the peloton. 

Murguialday and Paleni now have a lead of 27" over the peloton. 

60km to go

The race is now in the finish town of Amposta. Murguialday and Paleni  are just 17" ahead of the bunch as they take on some very technical roads through the town. 

50km to go

The rider are just under 20km to go to the intermediate sprint in l'Aldea. 

Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) has dropped Jokin Murguialday (Euskaltel-Euskadi) with 45km to go with just over a minute on the peloton. 

Now, the race turns and they take on some crosswind. UAE Team Emirates-XRG come to the front and the panic begins in the peloton. Lots of teams are battling for control but the Emirati registered squad leads the way for now. 

Caught by peloton

Visma-Lease a Bike won the battle in the peloton and now lead ahead of EF Education-EasyPost with the peloton stretched right out as they now have a tailwind pushing them on for a bit. 

Some riders are now struggling to stay with the peloton as the pace is very high. There are bonus seconds available in 7km at the intermediate sprint in L'Aldea. 

30km to go

Just one kilometre to the intermediate sprint in L'Aldea. 

Intermediate sprint (L'Aldea)

Break caught

Ineos Grenadiers take the lead with Geraint Thomas on the front working for his GC riders, Laurens De Plus and Egan Bernal, as well as sprinter Axel Laurance. 

The riders are now back in with a chance of echelons. A few teams are trying to force splits and they are starting to break now. 

Echelons!! Primož Roglič is well placed. Egan Bernal and Laurens De Plus make the split. Juan Ayuso has also made the split too. 

Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) are caught out in the splits. Around 35 riders lead with several small groups frantically trying to get back on with 17km to go. 

Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) also missing from the split. 

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) was out of the back but a slight stalling at the front sees the young Frenchman get back into the group. 

10km to go

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a BIke), Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) all in the lead group to be involved in the sprint. 

Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) is another rider who appears to have missed the move. 

Dorian Godon (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) is in the lead group. 

Ineos Grenadiers are trying to split the leading group once again. Juan Ayuso had to sprint to shut a gap as he very nearly missed the split. 6km to go. 

William Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) are two others out of the back of the group. 

5km to go

Into the final 3km. Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers taking the most control for Matthew Brennan and Axel Laurance. 

Into the final 2km and this is looking ideal for Matthew Brennan who has shown he is very comfortable winning from small groups like on stage one of this race but also the cobbled classic of GP Denain a week or so ago. 

Flamme Rouge!

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) wins stage five of the Volta a Catalunya 2025! 

The riders caught in the split lose 42" to the leaders. 

Top 10

GC after stage five

Make sure to have a read of the race report from today's superb fifth stage of this magnificent race by clicking the link below...

Tomorrow's stage is the last big mountain stage as the riders take on 159km between Berga and Queralt with five categorised climbs on the menu. Will be a fantastic watch. 

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