Favorites stage 5 Tour of Catalonia 2025 | Echelon alarm incoming in a new opportunity for Visma | Lease a Bike

After two thrilling days of Primoz Roglic vs. Juan Ayuso, stage 5 of the Tour of Catalonia gives the sprinters another chance to unleash their speed. At least, that’s the expectation—with a tough start, but a typically "Spanish flat" second half of the stage. IDLProCycling.com takes a closer look.

As mentioned, the fifth stage of the Tour of Catalonia starts with some difficulty, but if the sprinters can survive the first 90 kilometers, there’s a lot to look forward to in the latter half. The stage finishes in Amposta after 172 mostly flat kilometers.

Is the beginning really something for sprinters to worry about? The breakaway will likely form on the early climbs, and we’ll probably see some strong riders at the front. Still, the Coll de la Font, at 7.3 km with an average gradient of 3.4%, is less threatening than it appears on paper. Most of the early bumps are steady, manageable climbs.

So, all eyes will be on the final stretch toward Amposta, which leads down to the coast with increasingly open terrain. Echelons incoming? Winds are expected to pick up significantly—so maybe. After the intermediate sprint in L’Aldea, there's a small loop before the finish near the port.

Times
Start: 12:10 PM (local time) | 7:10 AM (EST)
Finish: 4:00 PM (local time) | 11:10 AM (EST)

The weather is looking good in Catalonia, with temperatures around 15°C at the start in Paüls. However, the wind is quite strong—blowing at 25 to 35 km/h (force 4 to 5) from the west-northwest. It eases a bit inland and during the climbs (around force 3), but heading toward the coast, it becomes a tail-crosswind at force 4, pushing the riders in a straight line.

Echelons or not, for this stage we’re mainly looking at the fast men. And in Catalonia, there usually aren’t too many of those. Kaden Groves, the top sprint favorite, abandoned the race on Thursday due to knee pain—so who can take advantage? Picnic-PostNL has an intriguing name in Pavel Bittner, who packs a serious sprint—he did, after all, win a Vuelta stage in 2024.

Marijn van den Berg will hope for a bunch sprint for EF Education-EasyPost, while Israel-Premier Tech has two options in Ethan Vernon and Corbin Strong. Vernon already won stage 2 and seems to be their best card to play. At Visma | Lease a Bike, the go-to sprinter is Matthew Brennan, already a stage winner (stage 1) this week. Bahrain Victorious might look to Matevž Govekar, while INEOS Grenadiers have a fast finisher in Axel Laurance.

Outsiders to watch that might suprise us? If Bittner doesn’t have the legs (like in Nokere Koerse), Nils Eekhoff has already shown he’s got a solid sprint in him. Alpecin-Deceuninck, after losing Groves, may now look to the young Tibor Del Grosso for a surprise result. Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale has two strong sprinters in Dorian Godon and Andrea Vendrame. And can veteran Jon Aberasturi do something for Euskaltel?  

Top favorites: Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) and Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Outsiders: Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL), Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) and Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Long shots: Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Matevž Govekar (Bahrain Victorious), Axel Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers) and Nils Eekhoff (Picnic-PostNL)

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])