The Tour de Romandie ends on Sunday with a tricky ride on a local course around Vernier. The balanced route of this edition offers an opportunity on the final day for puncheurs and sprinters who can cross a hill well. The classification leader also needs to pay attention. In the Leader’s Jersey looks ahead for one last time!
Route stage 5 Tour de Romandie 2024
About 150 kilometers in and around Dardagny. That’s the final stage summarized in one catchy sentence. But that’s too simple. The riders have to climb the Dardagny climb four times on the local course. Anyone who looks at the profile will see that the riders do not exceed 350 meters or more than 480 meters in altitude. But it does go up and down the entire ride.
There are still a number of bumps per lap that may not fit into the category of ‘climb’, but they will creep into the legs of the riders. This seems to be too difficult a stage for pure sprinters to get to the finish fresh. That increases the chance to play a surprise or gamble on a power sprint. Or will they still compete for seconds in the rankings? Plenty of scenarios possible!
Climbs
16,5 km: Dardagny (1,3 km a 4,8%)
51,8 km: Dardagny (1,3 km a 4,8%)
86,5 km: Dardagny (1,3 km a 4,8%)
121,2 km: Dardagny (1,3 km a 4,8%)
Times
Start: 12.20 pm
Finish: 3.50 pm
Weather stage 5 Tour de Romandie 2024
This week’s changing weather – radiant sun and sometimes annoying cold and drizzly – will culminate with a lot of rain on Sunday. At least, those are the predictions for Vernier on the final day of the weekend. It will be about 12 degrees. Definitely not a Swiss spring, and be careful of slippery conditions on the local circuit.
Favorites stage 5 Tour de Romandie
The fastest men in the peloton will not be driving around Switzerland this week. And so it is interesting who wants to seize this semi-sprint opportunity. Let’s first look at two Italians. Matteo Moschetti and Alberto Dainese are on paper the fastest sprinters in Romandie. Followed by the Belgian Milan Menten and Alex Aranburu from Movistar.
However, anyone who remembers the similar finish of the first stage cannot ignore the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale duo Dorian Godon and Andrea Vendrame. Godon, once winner of the Brabantse Pijl, finds a course to his liking in stage five and Vendrame also showed himself in the first mountain stage.
Can Thibau surprise Nys again?
After this list of fast men, we look at Simone Consonni on behalf of Lidl-Trek and of course Thibau Nys. How he defeated Vendrame in Salvan was impressive. Can the young Belgian still show a feat? We can never erase Julian Alaphilippe behind this duo. The two-time world champion already rode attentively this week.
Ethan Hayter is fast on paper, but showed little of his sprint capabilities this year. Perhaps that will change on Sunday. On behalf of DSM company PostNL, Emils Liepins is a dangerous customer. And how far can Tim van Dijke and good old Nikias Arndt get on this selective local round?
Does this ride seem too easy for the rankings? Will anyone be surprised by four percent strips? Still, BORA-hansgrohe will do everything it can to try something else. The German formation has Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz seven and nine seconds behind leader Carlos Rodriguez. So we are rubbing our hands from the German angle, as INEOS will try to defend.
Who, according to In de Leiderstrui, are the favorites for the fifth stage of the Tour de Romandie?
Top favorites: Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek)
Outsiders: Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Alberto Dainese (Tudor), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Alex Aranburu (Movistar) on Ethan Hayter (INEOS Grenadiers)
Long shots: Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek), Emils Liepins (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Tim van Dijke (Visma | Lease a Bike), Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious), Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny)
