Tour de Romandie 2015 Route stage 5: Fribourg

Tour de Romandie 2015 Route stage 5: Fribourg – Champex

Saturday, May 2, 2015 – Stage 5 takes the riders in 166.1 kilometres from Fribourg to Champex-Lac. It is the Queen Stage of the Tour de Romandie 2015, rising 3,381 metres in elevation.

Stage 5 starts in Fribourg, making this the only day in the 2015 Tour de Romandie the race opens in the town of yesterday’s finish. Then it’s off to Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut Natural Park for the ascent of the Cols des Mosses, a climb of the 1st category. After 63.8 kilometres of racing the 1,445 metres-top is crested. The 13.7 kilometres climb has an average gradient of 4%.

Two more ascents of the 1st category are to follow. Les Giettes (9.4 kilometres at 7,6%, peaks at 1,138 metres) is crested after 105.8 kilometres, and once at the flanks of the steep Petite Forclaz (4.9 kilometres at 10,2%, peaks at 1,013 metres) the final is on its way. At the top there is only 20 kilometres left to the finish line and more of half of this distance is uphill.

Incidentally, last year Les Giettes featured in stage 3, the Queen Stage of that edition. The race went to Aigle and was won by Simon Spilak who bested Chris Froome in a sprint-a-deux. A group with Vincenzo Nibali and Rui Costa was 49 seconds down on the two.

Arrival-town Champex-Lac was in last year’s Queen Stage also. Back then it was the second of four categorized climbs, taken before the Les Giettes-ascent. The arrival in Champex-Lac is at an elevation of 1,493 metres. To get there, riders climb 990 height-metres in 14.2 kilometres, thus averaging a 7% grade. The last 2.4 kilometres are at 8%.

Here you’ll find race results and race report.