The peloton gets a break from high altitude on stage 6 from Loveland to Fort Collins, but they will by no means free from lung-busting efforts on this 165km stage. If there is still a battle for the points classification, expect those sprinters teams to be keeping the bunch together for the two intermediate sprints in Windsor and Loveland in the opening 35km before letting a breakaway go clear. The second half of the stage gets hilly again as the peloton heads up fron Colorado's Front Range through Buckhorn Canyon and up the Rist Canyon climb. A series of rolling climbs along Horsetooth Resevoir with 21.6km to go will select for the strongest sprinters or help the breakaway en route to the finish in Fort Collins.
What would normally be a breakaway day could end up being a sprinter day. The sprinters haven’t had a day for themselves in a bit. So I could see them controlling the race. It will be tricky for Eric Young and Wouter Wippert to make it over Rist Canyon. But they’re talented little boys. So, it’s very possible.
There is the chance of wind out there. So everyone will have to pay attention for that. But unless the GC battle is tight. There isn’t much reason for a team or group of 30 guys to work together for 60+ miles with a Cat 2 climb coming up.
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