Tour of the Alps stage 5 Preview: 6 seconds separate the top 4, it's all to play for on final day

The queen stage is done — but the Tour of the Alps is far from decided. Quite the opposite, in fact: the GC leaders kept their powder dry on Thursday, which means the sting — unlike on stage four — is firmly in the tail of Friday's finale. A whole host of riders can still win this race.

Friday's stage covers 128.6 kilometres from Trento to Bolzano in North Italy, with the finish in the valley after two substantial climbs in the finale.

The two climbs in the first half of the stage are short and largely serve the intermediate sprints, which are placed once before and once after each summit. The second of these is also categorised — both ascents average 6.6%.

Those are just the warm-up kilometres. The real action comes in the finale, where the Montoppio will be tackled twice: once in full and once with a mid-climb turn, meaning only the upper half is ridden a second time.

The Montoppio is 12.7 kilometres at an average of 7.1% — a genuine mountain pass by any standard. The final 3.6 kilometres steepen to 8%, and crucially, that upper section is the part that gets repeated. After the summit, it's a long descent all the way to the finish in Bolzano.

Times
Start: 12:00 p.m.
Finish: around 3:15 p.m.

The short stage means the race doesn't get underway until midday. Temperatures will already be warm at the start in Trento — around 20°C — and will climb to 26°C on the road to Bolzano. A light south-westerly breeze at force 1 won't be a factor. The riders will be finishing a race week of sunshine and warmth.

After four days, we might have expected the favourites group to be somewhat smaller by now — but with the GC leaders barely testing each other beyond stage two, there are still plenty of riders heading into the final day with genuine ambitions.

Race leader Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and his teammate Aleksandr Vlasov (fourth overall) will have their hands full. The Red Bull block will be targeted by two other teams who have shown real strength this week.

INEOS Grenadiers have Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman just four seconds back — they need to attack to win the overall. A stage win and the race lead could come as a package deal. Mathys Rondel (19 seconds) and Michael Storer (29 seconds) are further adrift and will have to go all-in.

With ten bonus seconds available for the stage winner, those seconds could prove decisive for the overall too — which will make it harder than usual for a breakaway to stay clear. Others in the top ten with eyes on a double can also dream: Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL), Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious), Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Alex Tolio (Bardiani) are all in the mix.

A couple of bigger names slipped back after a harder day two. But don't rule out Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) making a move on the final day — riders who Pellizzari and co. may give a little more rope than they'd like.

Among those further down in GC, a few climbers caught the eye this week and could yet win from a breakaway. Gijs Leemreize and Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL) and Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) are worth watching.

Tudor saw Lennart Jasch win on stage four and Florian Stork sprint to fourth, but both will normally be working for their leaders. Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost) and the impressive Norwegian Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (INEOS Grenadiers) all remain potential threats.

Top favorites: Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers)
Outsiders: Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Mathys Rondel (Tudor)
Long shots: Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Michael Storer (Tudor), Chris Harper, Tom Pidcock (both Pinarello-Q36.5), Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious), Sam Oomen, Matteo Sobrero (both Lidl-Trek), Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (INEOS Grenadiers), Alex Tolio (Bardiani), Mattia Gaffuri, Gijs Leemreize (both Picnic PostNL) and Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost)