Nice > Nice 99km The final stage and it’s amazing that the yellow jersey is still up for grabs. It’s one of those short/intense stages, absolutely perfect for a huge battle between Niewiadoma and Vollering. Laps of Col d’Eze down in Nice, this should be a battle for the ages.

Wieliczka > Wieliczka 12.5km ITT The race finishes with a 12.5km ITT in Wieliczka. This is identical to the TT used last year when Brandon McNulty won with a time of 14:31, averaging 51.65km/h. The initial climbing section took him around 3:52. Contrast that to Milesi who took 4:10 and eventually lost out by 12 seconds. Time can be made up during the rest of the effort, but the climb is important.

Bukovina Resort > Bukowina Tatrzańska 126km The big day in Poland. The Bukowina stage has been used as the main GC day for many years, but in recent times it’s been dumbed down a bit, but not anymore, the organisers have significantly increased the difficulty making this a really hard day in the saddle. Just 126km in length but with almost 3000m of climbing, this will be a test for those aiming for the yellow jersey.

Sisteron > Nice 172km After an epic day on Mont Ventoux, Kasia Niewiadoma is now in the yellow jersey. She leads Vollering by 15 seconds, it now looks like a battle between the two of them for the yellow jersey. This stage looks very flat, but the final 20km is much harder than it looks on the profile.

Opole > Kocierz Resort 219km I’ve not seen many stages that look this. 220km with a 5km neutral zone, so it’s another long day in the saddle. There’s a relatively easy cat 1 climb inside the final 35km, and then a brutal wall climb which is similar to the Mur de Huy. I think the break will sniff a chance.

La Voulue-sur-Rhône > Mont Ventoux 147km Mont Ventoux, the big one. Whoever wins this stage will likely be in pole position to win yellow in Nice.

Zagań > Karpacz 176km Time for the sprinters to step aside, it’s GC all the way from now on. 

Montbrison > Tournon-sur-Rhône 154km Stage 5 didn’t disappoint; it was a great watch. It’s now clear that the GC fight is between Vollering, Reusser and Niewiadoma, I think all three would prefer a relatively easy day with Ventoux to come on Friday.

Gorzów Wielkopolski > Zielona Góra 193km Seconds out, round 3.

Mâcon > Belleville-en-Beaujolais 140km With 2913m of climbing, this is the hardest stage of the whole race. You can see where the elevation gain comes, the opening 75km contains six classified climbs. The ITT has blown the race wide apart; it was a disastrous day for Ferrand-Prévot and brilliant day for Reusser. The race is now set up to explode over the next 2 days.