2026 Tour de Suisse stage 5 preview | Swiss army knife Tadej Pogačar in a grueling queen stage

We’re two weeks away from the Tour’s start in Barcelona, which means the preparatory races are slowly coming to an end. The Tour de Suisse is wrapping things up with a nice and now familiar finale, as the route once again passes through Villars-sur-Ollon. IDL Pro Cycling breaks it all down.

This year’s Tour de Suisse features the exact same start and finish locations, and, naturally, the final stage is no exception. The Col de la Croix takes center stage in that stage—a climb we’re already familiar with from recent editions. That’s not surprising, since it starts in Aigle, where the UCI is headquartered.

In 2024, two stages even finished there, won by Joao Almeida and Adam Yates. The season before that, Mattias Skjelmose took the win. One key difference: this time, the Col de la Croix—which continues briefly past the Alpine village—with its 19.1 kilometers at a 7.0 percent gradient, is on the schedule three times, making it even tougher than in 2024.

So we’ll finish in Villars-sur-Ollon, which means the final climb of the day is 9.6 kilometers long with an average gradient of 8.0 percent. After a day with so much elevation gain, this is undeniably still tough enough to make a difference, especially since there’s hardly any chance to recover.

Times
Start: 1:34 p.m CET
Finish: 5:04 p.m CET

It will also be hot in Central Europe on Saturday. In Villars-sur-Ollon, which is located at 1,250 meters above sea level, the temperature will still rise to 26 degrees Celsius. There will be little to no wind, so it promises to be a hot day.

Tadej Pogacar is the Swiss Army knife of this race and therefore the clear favorite for this final stage. The Slovenian rider from UAE Emirates-XRG is eager to finish the race with a victory to honor his fallen partner Urska Zigart, and what better way to do that than by winning the final stage while wearing the leader’s jersey?

If someone else is looking to win, we’ll mainly be watching the early breakaway. Bahrain Victorious team leaders Antonio Tiberi and Lenny Martinez , for example, are already far behind, but their performances in the heat tend to be a bit inconsistent.

Also among them are Enric Mas, Javier Romo (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull), Clément Champoussin (XDS-Astana), Jarno Widar ( Lotto-Intermarché), and Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are already well behind in the general classification.

On behalf of UAE, they can also play with their domestiques, since Brandon McNulty, Felix Grossschartner, and Jhonatan Narvaez are also excellent climbers. That way, they can cover any other general classification contenders, such as Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike), Finlay Pickering (Bahrain), and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step).

After Pogacar, it may be up to strong climbers like Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Matthew Riccitello ( Decathlon CMA CGM), and Mikel Landa ( Soudal Quick-Step) to fight for a spot on the podium. For Lidl-Trek riders Andrea Bagioli and Mathias Vacek, it will likely be too tough. And what about Primoz Roglic, the enigma of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe?

Top Favorite: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Dark horses: Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM), Primož Roglič (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step)
Long shots: Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike), Felix Grosschartner, Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates-XRG), Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious)