Ulrichen > Blatten 42km This is what the new stage 6 looks like, a pale imitation of the original, but the organisers were forced into a rethink due to snow. We still have the same mountaintop finish, but just 42km in length is a weird one for me, I can think of just one stage like this in recent years. Stage 20 of the 2019 Tour de France, where there was a 60km stage finishing up at Val Thorens. You might remember, Nibali won from the break despite only having a gap of around 1 minute at the foot of...

Ambri > Cari 149km Due to the change to Friday’s stage, I would say this is the Queen stage. 3104m of climbing in 149km, and there’s three challenging climbs to deal with. Adam Yates was denied by the break today, will UAE chase down the attack and try to set up a stage win?

Rüschlikon > Gotthardpass 171km Off to the mountains we go. Easy day, and then a climb up to 2100m above sea level. The final climb isn’t the hardest in the world, but it goes up for a very long time. EF are in the race lead, but will they chase the break? If not, will anyone else decide to go for it, especially with some big days to come.

Men Steinmaur > Rüschlikon 162km Time to find out who’s the best uphill sprinter in the world. Okay, we’re missing a few, but most are here. An uphill sprint is a thing of beauty, I love them, they are far better than flat sprints. However, I might be disappointed, the finale is good for late attackers, I won’t be pleased if they ruin my fun.

Vaduz > Regensdorf 177km Day 2 and the only stage the pure sprinters can even hope of winning, but it certainly won’t be easy. Cavendish is probably the only pure sprinter in the bunch, but his presence in the race isn’t necessarily to go for this stage, the main reason he’s here is to get proper racing in his legs before the Tour, and that means trying to survive the mountains. He’ll give this stage a nudge, but the final climb is close to the finish, he’ll need to be going well to survive it.

Thônes > Plateau des Glières 161km The final day of the Dauphiné, and just like last year, it looks like a good day for the breakaway. In fact, in four of the last five editions the final stage has gone the way of the breakaway, only Jumbo spoiled the run in 2022. Roglič looks secure in yellow, and the podium also looks set in stone, although the exact order is still all to play for. The uphill start is again perfect for those looking to make the break and today showed which riders will be interested. If a rider in...

Vaduz > Vaduz 4.8km ITT The Tour de Suisse starts with a 4.8km ITT in Vaduz, the capital of Lichtenstein.  The route is about as untechnical as you can get, it’s all about power and who can go super deep for 5 minutes. This is a particular skill, not everyone can do it.

Albertville > Samoëns 1600 156km Queen stage, but the race for the yellow jersey feels like it’s already over. Roglič was back to his best today and he now leads Evenepoel by 19s, with Jorgenson at 58s, everyone else is over 1 minute down. This means Roglič is in a brilliant position, especially with Vlasov and Hindley to support, and they’ll be needed as this stage has a lot of climbing. Beating Bora won’t be easy, but there should be plenty of fight left in the GC contenders.

The race will obviously be a sad affair as everyone reflects on the loss of Gino Mäder. This talented young man died during last year’s race, crashing on a descent. His death hit the peloton hard, his parents showed incredible courage to be at the subsequent stages. The race will honour Gino with a special prize for the rider who is first over the highest point in the race. This is a nice gesture by the organisers, it’s a way of ensuring we remember Gino, it’s important we continue to talk about him and what an incredible human he was. 

Hauterives > Le Collet d’Allevard 173km Today’s mass pile up has left us with many questions, even more than we had at the start of the race. It’s very hard to predict how those who went down will react after a night’s sleep, we won’t find out until the bunch hit the final climb.