After four days dominated by sprinters, today at the Volta a Catalunya the general classification contenders had their chance and Jonas Vingegaard, the favorite of the day, shone in the fifth stage. The victory came on the Pal climb (16.4 km at 7.3%), where the Danish Visma-Lease a Bike rider gradually increased the pace 7 kilometers from the finish line, winning the stage with almost a minute's advantage over Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), second, and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), third. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was unable to keep pace with Vingegaard and fell back, as did Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG), who crashed 30 km from the finish.

"It was quite a tough stage. We had established a plan from the start this morning – Vingegaard said after the finish line. In the first part I wasn't feeling my best, but on the final climb I felt really good and my teammates were incredible today and we didn't have to work all day long. First Davide (Piganzoli ed.) worked a lot and then Sepp (Kuss ed.) took over and made the difference for me at the end"

The Visma-Lease a Bike strategy worked perfectly and the Danish rider is now also leading the general classification.

"I didn't think I could make such an important difference, to be honest. But in the end I felt really strong on the final climb, so I'm really happy with the gap I managed to create".

The Volta a Catalunya is an important race for Vingegaard who this year, before racing at the Tour de France, will start for the first time at the Giro d'Italia from where he wants to return home with the pink jersey of the race. "I think this is truly a great race. I like big races, I like winning big races like this one, and that's also why I'm here. But obviously, it's also good preparation for what awaits me later in the season".

Tomorrow's stage, the sixth starting from Berga and finishing in Queralt after 158.2 km, will also be an important opportunity for the general classification contenders and Jonas Vingegaard could try to win again.

"I don't rule out wanting to aim for another stage victory. But now we need to recover and see how we feel tomorrow. And then we'll see. Of course, there are also many other riders in the group who could try to take the victory".