Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, June 12, 2026
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you. - Langston Hughes
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- June 7 - 14: Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Upcoming racing:
- June 14: Copenhagen Sprint
- June 14: GP Gippingen/Canton Aargau
- June 17 - 21: Tour de Suisse
- June 17 - 21: Baloise Belgium Tour
Latest completed racing:
- June 10: Circuit Franco-Belge
- June 7: Brussels Cycling Classic
- June 1 - 5: Ethias-Tour de Wallone
- May 8 - 31: Giro d'Italia
- May 28 - 31:
Tour of Norway - May 20 - 24: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- May 23: Veenendaal - Veenendaal
- May 19: Classique Dunkerque
- May 17: Rund um Köln
- May 16: Tour du Finistère
- May 10: Tro-Bro Léon
- April 26 - May 3: Tour of Turkey
- April 28 - May 3: Tour de Romandie
- May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt
Content continues below the ads
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Wout van Aert's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Wout van Aert claimed an impressive victory in the fifth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. After 195.8 kilometers, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider sprinted convincingly to the stage win in Villars-les-Dombes, perfectly capping off the strong work of his teammates.
“Winning is always nice, especially in a hard race like this,” Van Aert said afterwards. “It was a difficult start, even today. Mentally it was hard as well. Bruno Armirail and the other boys did an impressive job bringing me to the finish line, and I have to thank them for that.”
From the start, the riders kept the race under control. Several teams tried to place riders in the early breakaway, but thanks to the alert work of Team Visma | Lease a Bike and other teams, the gap remained manageable. The team rode attentively at the front of the peloton throughout the day.
In the hectic finale, the team remained well organised. With only a few kilometers remaining, van Aert was expertly delivered to the front of the peloton. When the sprint was launched, the Belgian never hesitated. With a powerful acceleration, he completed the groundwork laid by his teammates.
Stage five winner Wout van Aert. Sirotti photo
For Van Aert, the victory is an important confidence boost. At the same time, the stage win underlines the collective strength of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, which had already impressed earlier in the race with victory in the team time trial and once again demonstrated its ability to compete on multiple fronts.
“The sprints have been going really well all year, so I had confidence going into it,” Van Aert said afterwards. “But sometimes it's a question of whether you can control the race and have the opportunity to sprint. Fortunately, that was the case today,” he concluded.
Here's the stage five report from second-place Hugo Hofstetter's NSN Cycling Team:
Despite his finish line disappointment, Hugo Hofstetter recorded a result to be proud of after another strong NSN Cycling Team performance at the Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes.
The Frenchman finished second on stage 5 at Parc des Oiseaux – his best-ever finish in a WorldTour race – while green jersey wearer Nadav Raisberg also matched that feat as he crossed the line in seventh to extend his lead in the points classification.
Hugo Hofstetter throws his bike, good enough for second place. Sirotti photo
Raisberg was seen consoling his teammate after the finish, whose previous best result in a top-level race was third at a Volta a Catalunya four years ago.
“I’m a competitor, I want to win,” says Hofstetter, who was narrowly beaten by Wout Van Aert. “Of course, it hasn’t happened to me often in my career. Sometimes, it comes down to very small things.
“You always look back and are happy with yourself after you do a great performance, but I’m just disappointed because today was an opportunity.
“I believe that I had the legs to win – I really believe that if I was in Wout’s wheel, then I would have had a chance, because I passed Bauhaus and then I closed the gap to him. That means that I had the speed.
“But that’s the game. However, I look back and I’m proud of what I did.”
Raisberg’s previous best result in a WorldTour race came on Monday, when he finished eighth in Le-Puy-en-Valey, which helped him first take the green jersey.
By sprinting to one place higher this afternoon, he picked up 12 valuable points, increasing his lead to 14 points with three stages remaining.
“I felt so good, the team are doing an unbelievable job for me,” he says. “They kept me safe all day.
“I was following [Dorian] Godon’s wheel in the final. I had really good legs today, so I cannot complain. Seventh in this type of sprint with the guys who are here, I’m really proud. That’s a nice best-ever result, for sure.
“I’m just excited and super proud. I really hope to keep this jersey now.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the report from third-place Phil Bauhaus' Team Bahrain Victorious:
Bahrain Victorious secured another podium finish at the Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes as Phil Bauhaus sprinted to third place on Stage 5 (Saint-Chamond – Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes, 195.8 km), behind stage winner Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Hugo Hofstetter (NSN Cycling Team).
After several days dominated by successful breakaways, Stage 5 finally offered the sprinters a long-awaited opportunity. The stage had been marked as one of the key chances for the fast men, and the peloton ensured it would end in a bunch sprint.
A strong collective effort from the sprint teams, including excellent teamwork from Bahrain Victorious, brought back the six-man breakaway inside the final 12km, setting up the sprint finish.
Bauhaus rewarded the team’s work with a solid third place, an encouraging result ahead of the Tour de France.
Phil Bauhaus was third in stage five.
“First of all, I’m super proud of the team. We controlled the race from the start and everybody worked really, really well. Of course, we missed Matej today and we all wish him a speedy recovery. Unfortunately, Matevž didn’t feel good either, so we were missing another important rider, but we still made the best of the situation.
Nikias did a great job pulling strongly, especially towards the end. Then Pello took over and positioned Vlad and me inside the final 3 km. As I’ve seen before, Vlad is incredibly talented and strong. I feel our relationship in the sprint is really good. He listens well and executes everything perfectly.
He gave me a lot of slipstream and brought me onto Van Aert’s wheel with about 1 km to go. I had to fight a bit to stay there and spent some energy, but I managed to follow him. I tried to come around him, but I quickly realised my legs weren’t strong enough today. Then I started running out of energy towards the finish and Hofstetter came past me.
I’m happy with third place. It was the maximum possible today. I couldn’t have done more. We can all be satisfied with what we achieved.”
The day began with a setback for Bahrain Victorious as Matej Mohorič did not start the stage after feeling unwell overnight, depriving the team of one of its key riders for the race.
Despite this, the team remained fully committed to its objective. On a stage that was not entirely flat, Bauhaus and his teammates handled the early rolling terrain well before taking responsibility for controlling the race and chasing the breakaway during the final 50 kilometres.
With the gap steadily decreasing, the attackers fought hard to stay clear, but the peloton eventually brought them back, paving the way for the sprinters to contest what was likely their final opportunity before the race heads into its decisive mountain stages.
Sports Director Michal Golas praised the team’s performance:
“I think the guys did really well in controlling the race. It wasn’t easy. We also had a dangerous counterattack in the early phase, but in the end we stayed committed to the plan.
Obviously, it’s not easy without Matej and with Matevž not feeling great during the stage, but the guys did a really good job. They positioned Phil perfectly on Van Aert’s wheel. We couldn’t have asked for more.
Phil tried to come around him, but Van Aert was simply stronger today. It’s a good result, we’re happy, and we’ll keep fighting this week as we continue to chase a victory.”
Sixth-place Dorian Godon's Team Netcompany INEOS posted this report:
Dorian Godon battled to sixth in a tense, windy finale to stage five of Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes which came down to a bunch sprint.
Following a stage that had failed to match the electric pace of the previous days, the pace ramped up in the final 20 kilometres as the bunch closed in on the early break.
As the sprint trains competed for space, the break was caught, which led to a drag race that saw Netcompany INEOS time a late move well.
Josh Tarling managed to weave through bunch and position Godon near the front with 500 metres to go, with the French national champion sprinting to sixth as Wout Van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike) came out on top.
Dorian Godon descends the Cote De La Croix Blanche, the day's first hill.
Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley finished safely in the bunch to remain second and third overall ahead of a trio of GC tests which begin with Friday's summit finish to Crest-Voland.
Dorian Godon:
“I was super happy to be racing where my parents live today on home roads and in all the villages I had been in before.
"We had as strong team, they believed in me and we gave it everything.”
"There was a bit too much wind at the end and I couldn’t do my best sprint, but now we focus on helping the GC guys in the mountains."
Content continues below the ads
Team Soudal Quick-Step posted this report:
Pepijn Reinderink showed the Soudal Quick-Step colors on the long stage five of the French race, which travelled from Saint-Chamond to Villars-les-Dombes - where the race returned after more than a decade - over 195.8 kilometers.
Pepijn Reinderink after stage four of the 2024 Tour of Guangxi
The Dutchman was extremely active in the front group, taking solid pulls and picking up points on the climbs and at the intermediate sprints. As the peloton chewed into their advantage, the escapees continued to believe in their chances, especially as on the previous three road stages, the breakaway managed to fend off the bunch’s efforts. Reinderink even launched a strong attack in the final 15 kilometers, which helped the move gain a few more seconds just as the chasers were rapidly making up ground, but the peloton eventually prevailed and reeled them in.
Pepijn’s strong day at the front didn’t go unnoticed, and the 24-year-old went straight to the podium after the finish to take the award for the most combative rider of the stage - a well-deserved recognition of his day in the breakaway.
And here's the Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes report from Team Groupama-FDJ United:
After two successful opening stages, Groupama-FDJ United Cycling Team has been more discreet over the past three days at the Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes. While the team first managed to limit the losses in Tuesday’s team time trial (11th place), it was more in the background during the following two stages, which were contested between breakaway riders and sprinters. Attention now turns to a mountainous weekend, featuring three summit finishes in as many days.
Following a hilly start to the race, where Groupama-FDJ United’s aggressive racing was rewarded with two top-five finishes, the Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes reached its first key moment on Tuesday with the team time trial. On a demanding course featuring two uphill sections before a final climb (800 metres at 6.3%), the clock was stopped on the first rider across the line, while each team member was credited with their individual finishing time. Thierry Bricaud and Stéphane Goubert’s men were the penultimate competitors to tackle the course, and despite the difficulties, five of them were still together at the bottom of the final climb. “We wanted to stay quite united because the last section leading to the finish was very fast,” explained Thierry. “We managed it quite well, and the riders made very few mistakes. We were missing one or two big time trial specialists to do better, but we maximized our strengths as much as possible. Apart from Maxime, we didn’t really have a specialist in this discipline, so it was a decent time trial.”
Team Groupama-FDJ United riding the stage three team time trial. Sirotti photo
At the end of the day, Groupama-FDJ United finished in eleventh place, 1 minute and 36 seconds behind the winning team, but less than a minute away from the top five. “In terms of time loss, it was a little more than we had hoped for, but regarding the position, we knew we would be competing around that level,” added Thierry.
On Wednesday, the peloton returned to Le Puy-en-Velay, where Clément Braz Afonso had secured his top-five finish, for the start of Stage 4. The opening phase proved extremely intense, as it took 75 kilometres before a breakaway was finally able to form. “We thought there was a chance the break could make it all the way,” Thierry continued. “We tried several times, particularly with Rudy and Quentin, but the break was formed by small waves of three or four riders, and we ultimately missed out. It was a bit tactical. Quentin came very close to making it, but it was the counterattack following his move that got away. It was slightly frustrating because it came down to very little and the breakaway made it, but we had nothing to reproach the riders for. They tried, just as they have since the start of the race. The attitude was there, but you also need a bit of luck, and we lacked that this time.”
In a thrilling head-to-head battle against the peloton, ten riders managed to hold on by just four seconds, with Quinn Simmons taking the victory. As a result, the sprinters’ teams were unwilling to take any risks on Thursday. “We expected a similar stage to the previous day because the start was demanding,” said Thierry. “Maxime almost made it into the breakaway, but with a slight delay. He came very close to getting back across, but it didn’t happen. In the end, though, we have no regrets because the attackers were never given much freedom.”
The day ultimately ended in a bunch sprint at the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes, where Wout van Aert claimed the win. At the conclusion of the stage, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (19th) and Clément Berthet (21st) maintained their positions in the general classification, while Groupama-FDJ United remained at the top of the team classification and Clément Braz Afonso retained the lead in the mountains classification. However, the major climbs are just about to begin.
“A tough weekend awaits the peloton,” predicted Thierry. “Starting on Friday, there is a first summit finish that could already shake up the general classification. Clément [Berthet] and Guillaume will find a final that suits them well. As for the final two stages, it will be proper high mountains. Race situations may give us opportunities to go for a stage win, and it will be up to us to anticipate. Clément’s King of the Mountains jersey is not really an objective, but if he has a strong ride on Saturday or Sunday, we’ll see where it takes us. The idea is to maintain the momentum we’ve built since the start and to target a stage victory over these final three days.”