Martinez celebrates victory on stage 5(Image credit: Getty Images)
Martinez on the podium as the stage winner(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jorgenson crosses the line in third on the stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vingegaard battles on the uphill finale to finish 16th(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mads Pedersen did most of the pacing in the finale(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tobias Foss attacked solo again on stage 5(Image credit: Getty Images)
Early views of the peloton on stage 5 of Paris-Nice(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vingegaard works his way back to the peloton after crashing(Image credit: Getty Images)
An attacking start to stage 5(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ben Swift and Thibaud Gruel get into the day's breakaway(Image credit: Getty Images)
Early views of the peloton on stage 5 of Paris-Nice(Image credit: Getty Images)
Early views of the peloton on stage 5 of Paris-Nice(Image credit: Getty Images)
Early views of the peloton on stage 5 of Paris-Nice(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) conquered the steep final climb to win stage 5 of Paris-Nice, powering to victory atop the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez ahead of Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana).
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) set a ferocious pace up the second half of the climb but was just overtaken by an acceleration from Martinez to the line, though the American will take the race lead back from teammate Jonas Vingegaard. The American had to settle for third at the finish.
It was a bad day for Vingegaard in the yellow jersey after he suffered a seemingly innocuous crash but was then clearly in pain as he struggled to match the GC favourites on the climb and lost a chunk of time as well as the race lead.
The five tough climbs packed into the final 50km of stage 5 made for a difficult day in France, with a cagey finale before the GC battle exploded on the punishing 11% slopes of the last climb, ushering in a significant reshuffling of the top 10.
Jorgenson now leads the GC by 22 seconds over Vingegaard, who is still in second, and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) moved into third, 36 seconds down on Jorgenson. Former third place Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) also struggled on the final climb and is now in sixth, 57 seconds down. Winner Martinez earned himself a move up to fifth.
"It was just incredible," Martinez said at the finish, celebrating his first win at WorldTour level.
"Everybody did a great job today, and on the final climb, I knew that I wanted to be up there with 150 metres to go, and I had to just go for it. I accelerated, there was a big gap, it was incredible, I couldn’t believe it, but I was able to raise my arms and enjoy it.
"I [haven’t won for] a long time, so I’m super happy to win today. It’s incredible, the feeling. To win here in Paris-Nice with my new team is incredible, I’m super happy."
How it unfolded
Stage 5 of Paris-Nice took the peloton Saint-Just-en-Chevalet to La Côte-Saint-André with no fewer than seven categorised climbs on the menu – plus some uncategorised ascents – and five of the official climbs packed into the final 50km. It all culminated with the tough Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez, only 1.7km long but with a demanding 11.1% average gradient.
The stage started with a pair of climbs, but with a real chance of the breakaway making it to the finish, the peloton were very reluctant to let any threatening riders go, so the battle for the break took a long time under cold, unpleasant conditions.
After more than 50km, a handful of riders were up the road in disparate groups, and most were caught, but eventually, after two hours, the duo of Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) did manage to secure a slender gap as the peloton seemed to settle down.
Over the next two climbs, they pulled their lead out to 2:50, stabilising at around 1:45 on the flat, and they held the gap for a good while as Visma-Lease a Bike kept things in check in the peloton.
A small crash for Vingegaard on an uphill briefly made it look like there might be a problem, but the race leader quickly had three teammates around him, and after a bike change, he was back on the move and back in the bunch. Initially, it looked like Vingegaard was only suffering from a bloody lip, but it became clear throughout the day and at the finish that he was in significant pain.
The Dane then hovered around the back of the peloton with just one teammate for much of the day as the rest of the squad lined up at the front, protecting Jorgenson.
A punchy finale
The first of the five back-to-back climbs passed without any attacks, but did take almost a minute out of the leaders’ advantage as things started to ramp up into the finale.
On the Côte de Sibuze, Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked from the peloton and quickly joined his teammate and Gruel in the break. The Norwegian’s presence clearly helped as they increased their gap back up from 40 seconds to closer to a minute. Three more riders tried to follow Foss’ lead and also bridge the gap, but they were brought back as the peloton chased down the break.
On the third-last climb, Foss went solo from the break, as Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale set the pace behind going into the final 30km, quickly sweeping up Swift and Gruel. Despite the best efforts of the GC teams – albeit without huge input from Visma-Lease a BIke – Foss was somehow extending his lead, holding onto 1:15 into the final 20km.
The peloton kicked into action on the penultimate Côte d’Arzay with various riders trying to go clear. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) managed to chip off the peloton, but that didn’t last long as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek set a tough pace, sensing some hesitation from Vimsa-Lease a Bike.
On the flat in the final 10km before the finishing climb, there was no one team putting together a concerted chase, with riders just trying to keep up with the high pace in the whittled-down group. Vingegaard finally moved towards the front of the peloton with 8km to go as Visma eventually kicked into gear.
Foss was finally caught with 4km to go, setting up for an all-out finale up the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) put in another monster turn in support of his team leader Skjelmose, pulling off just at the bottom of the climb and allowing Visma to take over.
Whilst Jorgenson was well-placed, Vingegaard was one of the first GC riders to start to suffer, swaying on the bike and slipping to the back of the group with still some 800m to go. Jorgenson led the race from the front but couldn’t quite shake off Martinez and Champoussin, with the Bahrain Victorious rider taking off at just the right moment to grab victory on the line.
With Vingegaard losing time, Jorgenson takes over the race lead from his teammate, a consolation for not winning the stage. Stage 6 is set to be a day for the sprinters, but the American will still have two big climbing days on Saturday and Sunday if he is to defend his title won here in 2024.
Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025. Prior to that, she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN, and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Velo, Rouleur, Escape Collective, Red Bull and more. She has reported from many of the biggest events on the calendar, including the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France Femmes, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling, and women's sport in general. She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism.
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