Day five over 39km from Guillames to St-Sauveur-sur-Tinée, regardless of what old timers at the Trans-Provence may think, turned out to be the favourite by some degree with riders so far. The combination of technical trails and the majority of climbing on roads gave the riders a little relief from the standard hike-a-bike and fireroad climbs to the top.
The first trail of the day on special stage 15 definitely dropped a long way but also had some hard pedalling sections combined with technical moves. To quote Chris Porter from Mojo "You need the trials skills of Danny Macaskill and the lungs of Indurain."
A long road climb with opportunities for coffee and cake at the top (which most seemed to take ) led the riders in to special stage 16 a woodland epic that finally saw them fire through arable fields before reaching the feed station.
Another long road col gradually wound the riders to special stage 17 - a fast dusty trail that cut along the edge of ravine and out and along a old road that lead to them through tiny villages and finally into a deep ravine which demanded the only carry of the day.
Finally the Village of Roure was reached and another of the classic Trans-Provence trails. zig zagging across open hill side with an enormous sense of exposure on either your left or right depending on which way the trail was taking you held together with perfect switchback corners - faster and less technical than some of the other stages - it definitely had a bit more flow and speed to it.
A final uplift of the day saw competitors reach there camp for the night and much needed rest for day six, the only day that compares to day two in terms of duration.
