PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2025 stage 5 - Old Willunga Hill to decide race victory featuring Romo, Vine, Plapp, Narvaez and more!

The Tour Down Under has thus far delivered solid action but this Friday we should have the climax of the week. We preview stage 5, where the riders will be climbing Old Willunga Hill two times and this is certainly going to be a decisive moment in the race.

The most famous climb in Australia is back once again for the queen stage that follows a traditional format. Starting in McLaren Vale, the peloton will ride around the area until they climb up the Old Willunga Hill twice. Early in the day they will ascent the Wickham hill and actually go down the final ascent which should see some crazy speeds.

However most of the day will be flat, and in the penultimate climb there are never serious moves. It's all about saving the legs to the final climb and then deliver some impressive watt bombs. It's one where the climbers are better suited but it's not overly difficult and some puncheurs can also handle the more constant pace as it's not too long.

The climb is 3.3 kilometers long at over 7%, it's tough enough to make some difference and in this race every second counts. The climb is constant and towards the end it features a few bends. In some years a late attack succeeds, but we can't discard the possibility of a small group sprint to the line.

Strong southeastern wind. This means we will have a headwind at Old Willunga Hill, ideal for Javier Romo and those who are looking to have a more compact finish. The climb isn't really exposed, so the difference isn't huge, but it can be felt, and in the run-up to the climb it definitely will make it that little bit easier. However, risks of echelons are substantially high, specially after crossing the finish line for the first time specifically. The plateau section right after Willunga Hill will have a crosswind and will be extremely dangerous.

Javier Romo - The big question is, will he lose the race lead? It's a 50/50 in my opinion, but only because you've got a Narváez taking bonus seconds left and right. If it weren't for the Ecuadorian I would say Movistar are about to win the World Tour race, because Romo is looking very strong on the climbs, we've got a headwind here and taking time on the road doesn't seem like it will happen. However Narváez' proximity means that just hanging on may not be enough to seal the deal, and he will need his best legs in order to also go and fight for the bonifications.

UAE - I think it's clear who's the priority now, and with Jay Vine crashing today, it seems certain that Jhonatan Narváez will be the designated leader. With the headwind, it's likely that the stage finishes in a small group sprint and he would be the prime favourite. Vine, if on a good day, can certainly attack earlier in the climb and try to make the difference however. UAE have good cards, but it will face tough competition so it won't be easy - but in reality, it won't be easy for anyone really.

But this won't just be between them, and the reality is that despite having had some action, we've not had one day where the GC riders were taken to the very limit, so actually we still do enter this stage with a bit of unknown, and 17 riders within 15 seconds of the race lead (whilst the stage win alone gives out 10). There are obvious threats in the likes of Luke Plapp and Finn Fisher-Black, in my opinion two riders very well suited to this type of climb and who are certainly in great form to try and take the overall win. Groupama's Rémy Rochas has indeed looked very strong over the past days and Oscar Onley, winner on this very same climb last year, has also been looking sharp and it wouldn't be surprising if he repeated his feat.

We've got Lidl-Trek with five riders at hand: Patrick Konrad, Bauke Mollema, Juan Pedro López, Andrea Bagioli and Albert Philipsen... Only the latter may sacrifice his chances if he sees he's not on his best day, the team has lots of depth but honestly this isn't a stage where you can really use tactics and I don't think they will be able to take advantage of it.

Magnus Sheffield, Bastien Tronchon, Sergio Higuita, Chris Harper, Thomas Gloag and Afonso Eulálio are the other riders who sit quite close to the front as well and can realistically win the race if they are on a special day. Stephen Williams, William Lecerf Junior and Lukas Nerurkar, can also play a role on the day if they find better legs than what we've seen on stage 3.

*** Jhonatan Narváez, Finn Fisher-Black, Oscar Onley
** Luke Plapp, Rémy Rochas
* Jay Vine, Javier Romo, Patrick Konrad, Juan Pedro López, Magnus Sheffield, Sergio Higuita, Chris Harper, Afonso Eulálio, Stephen Williams

Pick: Jhonatan Narváez