Taking in a false flat of 8 kilometres to start, the route continues onto the Col du Pillon. This is a 6.8 kilometres climb at 5.1%.
The Tour de Suisse descends into Aigle to follow the Rhône valley for a few dozen kilometres.
With almost 40 kilometres to go the riders leave the flat roads of the valley to tackle a 5.6 kilometres climb at 3.8%. After the downhill they cross the Rhône twice and return to climbing.
The finish climb from the Rhône valley to Leukerbad is 17 kilometres long – that is, if you forget about the intermediate drop. The first 8 kilometres go up at 8.4% and after the downhill section the route continues to climb at 5% to the line.
Three years ago, the Tour de Suisse served a slightly different race from Gstaad to Leukerbad. Diego Ulissi won the sprint of a decimated peloton ahead of Enric Mas and Tom-Jelte Slagter.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the intermediate sprints come with 3, 2 and 1 seconds each.
Another interesting read: results 5th stage 2021 Tour de Suisse.
Tour de Suisse 2021 stage 5: route, profile, more
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