Extended Highlights - Stage 5 - The AlUla Tour 2026

And so to the fifth and final stage of the Alula Tour 2026. The sprinters have had their fun. Now it's time for the GC contenders to face off on this race's iconic climb, the Sky Views of Harata Wairid. Yanis Voisard is in pole position, but the Swiss rider has a big job to do on this final day. That's super steep. That's honestly one of the steepest climbs I did also in Europe. So that's a very tough one. And what would it mean to you to bring this jersey home? I will be amazing for sure. We'll do everything we can do with the team to take this jersey home. But we will see. Alfonso Ulalio has yet to win a professional bike race, but this could be the day for the Portuguese youngster. He starts as Voisard's nearest challenger, just four seconds down. Yeah, with four seconds, the difference, no? But in the final, 20 riders, 25 riders can win the race. We will see. We will do our best. 164 kilometers on the menu today between the Alula Old Town and the Sky Views of Harata Wairid. There isn't too much wind forecast, so this should go down to the final climb. It tops out with 8.3 kilometers to go, with all important bonus seconds available at the summit. There is then the final frantic dash along the plateau to the finish line, and with only six seconds separating the top three, it could be a case of winner takes all. There were seven riders in the day's breakaway, including a couple of guys who already went up the road early on stage two. Dries de Bont from Jayco Alula and Federico Iacomoni from Team Yukio. They were joined by Lars van den Heijde of Soudal Quickstep, Rayan Boulahwat of Total Energies and Juan Pedro Lozano from Terengganu, who basically haven't missed a breakaway all week. Milan Fretam was also in there. The Belgian sprinter who was second on stage one. And finally, Javier Ibanez from the Cajal Rural squad, who it was announced yesterday, will be taking part in their first Tour de France this summer. Well, their lead was just under three minutes heading into the final 60 kilometers. Well, meanwhile, there was an unfortunate crash involving one of the race favorites, Higuita going to ground along with his XTS Astana teammate, Evgeny Fedorov. The Colombian shepherded back to the bunch by Matteo Malicelli, but sporting a few cuts and bruises, that crash would potentially impact his performance in the final. Bahrain Victorias were doing the lion's share of the pacing in the peloton on behalf of Ulalio, with Voisard's Tudor Pro cycling team strung out just behind them. The gap remaining pretty steady over the next 20 kilometers or so, despite a decent average speed of over 47 kilometers an hour. The breakaway still with over three minutes in hand, although none of them posed any major threat to the green jersey. The best placed overall was Fretin, some six minutes down on Voisard. Back in the peloton, UAE Team Emirates XRG were now getting involved with the chase because they had three riders within 33 seconds of the lead. Igor Arrieta, Kevin Vemarca and Jan Christen. The breakaway's lead had been cut to around two minutes as they approached the base of the final climb. And one or two of them might have been starting to think about a possible stage victory, but not the fast man Fretin, who was the first to drop. Bouloghouat also saying goodbye, leaving five men at the front. De Bont, Van den Heijde, Ibanez, Giacomoni and Lozano. The sky views of Harata Wairid looming into view as the gradients began to bite. The GC favorites getting themselves set and slowly, but surely the gap was coming down. The breakaway led by just a minute, two kilometers from the summit. Well, the attack starting to fly at the front. And just look how difficult this climb is. Riders zigzagging all over the place. UAE starting to rev things up in the GC group with Jaco Alula also up there. Well, Giacomoni and Lozano proved to be the strongest from the breakaway, but the race leader was suffering. And here is Voisard. Oh, the green jersey is in difficulty. Voisard is starting to suffer and he's gone out the back very, very early. This is not good news. He's looked good until now. Voisard is in trouble. Well, game over then for Yanis Voisard. Up at the front, Lozano said ciao to Giacomoni, but the favorites were now closing fast. Around a dozen riders in this GC group, including Sergio Higuita, but Ulalio was also fading. And this is the white jersey. Ulalio has cracked as well. He doesn't have the legs at the moment either. Big acceleration on the left hand side. Higuita starts to follow. Big, big move now of UAE Team Emirates XRG. Christen starts his assault again to try and win a stage, but Higuita immediately counterattacks the climber from XTS Astana. He's had a crash today, but Higuita is an out and out climber. Look at the way he's going now. Higuita smells blood on this mountain. Higuita taking a couple of bonus seconds at the top of the climb that he, Debord and Van Sevenant would soon have company. Jan Christen coming across with Jan Castellon. And the Swiss rider was clearly in the mood because he went straight on the attack, looking to time trial his way to victory with bonuses. He would need to win by around 20 seconds to win the Alula Tour. The others chasing as best they could, with Debord's teammate Byron Munton coming across and trying to hunt Christen down. But the 21 year old was absolutely flying. A sensational display of power and panache to potentially snatch victory on the final day. So right now, between these riders, Christen started the day at 33 seconds. Between him and Higuita, there's 30 seconds. So he needs the 10 second time bonus and another 20. That's what he needs to win this race overall, pretty much because there's nobody else in the picture who started the day in the top three. This rider is trying to win this Alula Tour and he's doing it in style right now. Jan Christen flat out looking for a big win in this Alula Tour. Munton has done his team extremely proud in the background. What a performance by Modern Adventure on the final day. Christen is going all out for time to win this Alula Tour. This has been a stunning win. Jan Christen takes the victory. He takes the time bonus. And now the clock starts. Byron Munton takes second place. Now it's the fight for third place. Higuita is going to be so, so close to this. Stephan Debord looking for a place in the top 10. By my reckoning, the time has gone by and the jersey has gone. Higuita comes in now in this group. The time bonus is taken by Jan Christen's teammate. And it looks to me like Jan Christen will win this Alula Tour on the final day. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It's been a rollercoaster week for Jan Christen with crashes, a penalty for drafting, disappointment and finally glory on the sky views of Haritha Wairid. The 21-year-old living up to his billing as the favourite by seeing off all comers on this final stage and securing a memorable victory at this sixth edition of the Alula Tour. I didn't want to go too early because I knew the last 10k is quite hard, especially with headwind. And yeah, today I kept my legs in the climb. Did a bit of a show attack in the top because I knew if some guys could pass me, they will and they maybe blow up. And I just kept my pace over the top. And then I knew if I do on the flat part, a big attack. Normally, I have more power than the other climbers on the flat and that I should bring it home. Christen taking his sixth career win.