The race finally exploded on the slopes of the Coll de Pal when nobody could follow Vingegaard as he accelerated sharply and immediately created a gap that no one could close.
Remco Evenepoel was unable to hang on and began to drift backwards, while a chasing group formed behind featuring Florian Lipowitz, Felix Gall, Lenny Martinez, and Valentin Paret-Peintre.
Inside the final kilometres of the climb, Vingegaard extended his advantage to around a minute on the nearest group of chasers, as Evenepoel, who seemed to have no gas left in the tank, conceded over a minute as the climb wore on.
The stage was haunted by a series of crashes on a very technical descent, which tore the peloton to pieces and disrupted several key riders ahead of the final climb. Among those caught up were Joao Almeida, Brandon McNulty, and Tom Pidcock, while Team Visma | Lease a Bike also lost key support riders, including Sepp Kuss.
Some riders managed to regain contact but used a lot of strength in the process, and several contenders were left isolated before the decisive phase of the race.
"It was a really tough stage. We had a plan from the morning, but I didn't feel at my top level to start with, but on the last mountain, I felt really good. My teammates did fantastic today. We had David (Piganzoli, ed.) in the breakaway, so we didn't have to push the peloton all day, and then Sepp (Kuss, ed.) took over. He made the difference for me today. It was good teamwork today."
"I did not expect such a great victory today. But I was strong on the last mountain, and I'm happy with the difference I made today", said Vingegaard to TV2 Sport after the race.
The sixth stage of the race tomorrow is a copy of the 2024 queen stage, where Tadej Pogacar took all challengers by surprise with a long-range attack. Even if the race hasn't exploded by the final climb on the stage from Berga - Queralt, the climb is 6 kilometers in length and 7% in gradient, and after such a race and stage, the climb is likely to create bigger differences than one would expect.
