Stage 5 Preview and Results

Stage 5: Wettingen → Frutigen
Date: Wednesday, June 16
Distance: 164 km

Stage 5 start time: Wednesday 13:53 CET (11:53:00 AM GMT+0000); Weather for Wettingen
Earliest live video: 16:45 CET (2:45:00 PM GMT+0000); Live video, audio and text options
Approximate finish: 18:15 CET (4:15:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Frutigen

Stage 5 preview: Wettingen → Frutigen, 164 km (lumpy)

The stage 5 finish is in Frutigen, a small, old valley town in the Bernese Alps. (photo courtesy of FWnetz)

June 16 update: This is one of those rolling, hilly Tour de Suisse stages that doesn't have many categorized climbs, but the lumps and twists could add up by the finish. And since many sprinters literally took their lumps yesterday, there may not be a sprint finish.

For the third straight day, yesterday's finish is today's start host. From Wettingen, we'll head back south on the west side of Zurich and Luzern. There is a cat 2 climb at km 117 and a cat 3 at km 162 of this 173 km stage that finishes in small, old Frutigen. The last 5 km are slightly up hill (1.7%) with the last km having a 2% average grade. There is a 40% chance of rain at the finish so Frutigen today may look much like the photo above.

Oscar Freire stayed upright in the midst of bouncing bikes and bodies yesterday and he could get rewarded for his fine bike handling and typically adequate climbing skills today. — Steve