Following the exciting finale of the hilly Stage 4 route in Liege, which saw Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) consolidate her Yellow Jersey and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) emerge with a splendid victory, the race will regain a somewhat flatter profile on Thursday.
Will it be another bunch sprint on Stage 5? The possibility exists but appearances can be deceptive. Taken one by one, the five categorised climbs of the 152.5km route from Bastogne and Amneville do not seem overly imposing (four in Cat. 4, one Cat. 3). But this is still a very undulating parcours featuring more than 2,000m of vertical gain and the regular changes of direction should produce a dynamic stage.
Punchy riders will relish this test, and especially the finish, which will be located in front of the Amneville thermal baths, at the top of a challenging final kilometre (a 6% gradient to start with, then between 3 and 4% up to the line).
If there is a sprint finish on Thursday, it will likely be in a reduced bunch, between an already well-tested group. The finale is conducive to attacks and could present opportunities for aggressive puncheurs.
The summit of the Montois-la-Montagne climb (1.7km at 6%) is only 15 kilometres from the finish, just after which a timed bonus point could encourage the big names to go on the offensive.
So the stars would need to align to produce another duel for Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who leads 2-0 in the victory tally between the pair so far at this year’s Tour. Otherwise, it could be the day for another Dutch queen to shine, with Marianne Vos’ (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) profile perfectly suiting the unique characteristics of the day.
