PREVIEW | Etoile de Bessèges 2023 stage 5 - Powless and Skjelmose battle for GC win as riders tackle brutal ITT

The opening stage-race of the year in France will be the Etoile de Bessèges and every year it delivers quite a lot of spectacle in central France. Stage 5 is the final day and will see the time-trialists go head-to-head in a short time-trial with a brutally steep finale. The favourites will perhaps be secondary however as Neilson Powless and Mattias Skjelmose fight for the overall classification victory.

That will, as usual, come down to the final time-trial in Alès. It is a short one with only 10.6 kilometers, but a very open one. The Montée de l'Ermitage features 2.9Km at 4.8% however it's a very inconsistent climb, with frequent grades of above 10%. It will decide the final outcome of the race. It is a very mixed route which won't fit the specialists, and surprises can easily pop out from the day.