Stage 6 Favorites – 2025 Tour of Catalonia | Scouting for potential winners in a bizarre, shortened stage

The Tour of Catalonia is, just like in previous years, an incredibly exciting race. Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic are closely matched, and after Friday’s flat stage, they were surely looking forward to a thrilling uphill finish battle. However, strong winds have thrown a wrench in the plans, and this sixth stage has been almost completely stripped down. So, who should we now consider contenders? IDLProCycling.com  takes a look at the favorites!

After a relatively easy stage on Friday, the riders should be well recovered. The breather was more than welcome, but under normal circumstances, Saturday would have brought some serious climbing. The opening phase is now the easiest part of the day: the Coll de la Batallola is long but not steep. Normally, the tough Coll de Pradell would have caused serious damage, but due to strong gusts of wind, it has been removed from the route. And that’s not the only change.

Initially, the Collada de Sant Isidre was also on the menu, but the organizers have ultimately decided to cut out all the major climbs. The Coll de la Batallola will now be tackled twice, and it’s the only ascent of the day. After the second time up, the route heads toward Berga, where, under normal conditions, the climb to Queralt would serve as the final uphill finish. Now, the finish is located in the town itself—where normally a bonus sprint would be placed, the finish line now sits on a gradually rising stretch of 2 kilometers at 4%.

Check below the finish on top of Queralt.

Times
Start: 12:40 PM (local time) | 7:40 AM (EST)
Finish: 5:00 PM (local time) | 12:00 PM (EST)

It won’t be very cold or wet, but the wind is really causing problems for the peloton. The strong northwesterly wind has led to the shortening of the stage, and it could also create quite a bit of chaos along the way.

So, who should you now put down as a favorite in this short and unusual stage? We simply can’t ignore the two big rivals. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) won the first showdown, but Primoz Roglic (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) got his revenge a day later. It’s a thrilling battle between the two, and that will no doubt continue all the way to Queralt. So far, they’ve stood head and shoulders above the rest, and they’ll likely be in the mix for the sprint to the win.

Because of the unusual course, there are suddenly quite a few dark horses. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) felt after Thursday that he had much more in the tank and was visibly frustrated with himself. He’ll be eager to bounce back—especially after the failed echelon stage. He’s got a strong sprint too, which could be a real asset on this finish. But this type of stage also offers a great chance for riders like Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost) and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) to shake things up.

Pure climbers like Sepp Kuss and Felix Gall suddenly seem out of the running for stage success. Now we’re looking at riders with decent climbing legs and a powerful kick at the end. Normally, we’d include Matthew Brennan here, but he won’t be starting. So instead, we turn our attention to Dorian Godon and Andrea Vendrame from Decathlon AG2R, as well as Axel Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers), Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education–EasyPost).

Top favorites: Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates - XRG)
Outsiders: Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto), Enric Mas (Movistar), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step)
Long shots: Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Matthew Riccitello (Israel - Premier Tech), Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost)