A preview of Thursday's stage 6
Mark Cavendish's domination of the Tour de France bunch sprints is likely set to come to an end, temporarily at least, on the race's sixth stage which ends at Barcelona's Olympic stadium on Thursday.
A day before the first summit finish of the race at Arcalis in Andorra, the Tour heads over more challenging undulating terrain, with an uphill finish likely tempting the peloton's 'punchers.'
A total of five climbs feature on the 181.5km ride from Girona to Barcelona, although none of those difficulties, ranging in category from three to four, should pose a problem compared to what lies ahead.
Breakaways are a certainty as the course snakes its way down towards the coast, where for the next 50km the peloton will encounter two category four climbs and two intermediate sprints.
Turning inland at Caldes d'Estrac, the most difficult sector ensues with two category three climbs at the 98 and 110km marks, with little chance for respite in between.
Some more forgiving terrain follows before the final climb, rated category four, appears a little under 22km from the finish line.
For those still with something to offer, this could be the occasion for an opportunistic attack that could take them all the way to the finish.
Even if the sprinters' teams manage to contain the breakaway riders before they reach Barcelona the chances of a bunch sprint, of which Columbia sprinter Cavendish has won two so far, are slim.
The road begins to incline as the five kilometers to go mark, but it is with 2km to go, where the road hits a more significant gradient of 6.6 percent for a 500-metre stretch, that the climbers who know how to sprint to the finish are likely to attack.
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