Results Tour de Hongrie 2026 stage 5 - Tim Merlier takes third win; Soderqvist survives late crash and attacks to win GC

Tim Merlier has won stage 5 of the Tour de Hongrie; the final day of racing in Hungary from which he has won three stages. Jakob Söderqvist has confirmed the overall win after a day where his main rivals were on the attack once again.

The breakaway of the day was established and included Nikias Arndt, Andrea Pietrobon, Siebe Deweirdt, Jamie Meehan, Ezra Caudell, Gerben Kuypers and Erik Fetter. The seven-rider group didn't have too many chances of succeeding because the sprinter teams were to control the stage; and the GC men also looked to put Söderqvist under pressure.

The Lidl-Trek rider benefitted from a stage cut yesterday to jump into the race lead on the queen stage. But he still had to work very hard today as Luke Plapp and Beno]it Cosnefroy went on the attack on the final climb of the day with 25 kilometers to go.

A small group moved up in the 2-kilometer long ascent at 6%, catching the breakaway in the process. But there was no calming down afterwards, as Soderqvist crashed. But from a six-rider group with three UAE riders, a split took them all out of the front of the race. Hence Luke Plapp was then joined by Krists Neilands and Martin Svrcek, with the race seemingly turned on its head.

Söderqvist returned to the peloton and had to recover from his fall, but as the peloton gathered itself, there was an organized chase. The Swedish rider himself chased on and even attacked so as to close the gaps to the front group that threatened his race lead.

Mike Teunissen then also joined the front group, but all of them would be caught already inside the final kilometer. The sprinters in the end had the opportunity to fight for the stage win, and amidst all the chaos it was Tim Merlier who sprinted to victory. He beat Alexis Renard and Fernando Gaviria to the line.