As the 3rd Tour of Alberta began to wind down, the peloton headed to the dirt on the 204 km stage 5 from Edson to Spruce Grove. Originally designed to include six sectors of unpaved roads for a total of 56 km, route changes were made before the race start due to impassable sectors in the early part of the parcours, leaving approximately 20 km of dirt for the riders to deal with. Team Katusha’s Sven Erik Bystrøm was the most active of the day, attacking on a dirt sector and chasing lone leader in Lasse-Norman Hansen, but a mistake by the race officials in the course direction caused Bystræm and the chasing peloton to go off course, eventually leading to a neutralization of the race and giving Hansen the win.

"In the end it was full gas on the dirt sections and I found myself with a group of maybe 10 riders. I attacked alone and at first I didn’t realize there was one guy still ahead since there are no radios in this race. But then suddenly before we hit the local circuits they showed me the wrong way to go, I was just following the moto bikes in front of me. Then they tell me I have to turn around and also the entire peloton who were about 30-seconds behind me. It was over at that point," said Sven Erik Bystrømafter the race.

"Thought I was leading the race, so avoided a potential celebrating for 2nd situation there," the Norwegian tweeted after the race.

The race left the mountains of Jasper National Park behind and headed for a more urban setting. An original break of 5 riders was down to four with 50 km to go, with Cannondale-Garmin’s Lasse-Norman Hansen attacking on the second-to-last section, establishing a gap of more than one minute at the entrance to the final unpaved sector. Despite these sectors being plenty wide, the only section firm enough to get any traction and avoid the potholes was right in the middle. Team Katusha worked from the front, trying to stay together and control the pace in the last sector of dirt. The attack for Katusha came from Bystrøm with Hansen still away, joining up with the remains to the break and making up a chase group of seven. Bystrøm put in a solid solo attack with 21 km to go and Hansen some 90-seconds ahead but was eventually led off course. With the race neutralized because of the mistake, the rain-soaked and chilly riders rode in at cruising speed to end the stage.

Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) kept the lead by 10-seconds to Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin). Team Katusha’s Sergey Lagutin remains in fourth place on the general classification.

"It was a really cool experience riding the dirt. For me, this is the kind of racing I like with the rain and the muddy roads. It was cold today for sure, but I enjoyed it. It was a little bit like winter training at home," said the hardy Norwegian Bystrøm.

The final stage on Monday brings a repeat of last year’s route, but hopefully not a repeat of the weather in 2014, since the race was contested in torrential rains that time. The 124,1 km route takes place in downtown Edmonton at Sir Winston Churchhill Square and is an eleven lap circuit race.