In addition to several one-day races in the weekend, this week offers two stage races, the Tour de Langkawi and the inaugural edition of the Tour La Provence. Every day we will offer you short previews of the stages at both the Malaysian and French race. You can read previews of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad here and Classid Sud-Ardeche here.

Tour de Langkawi, stage 4:

The course:

This year the queen stage comes on the fourth day. As usual, it is a very short one as it brings the riders over just 129.4km from Ipoh to a mountaintop finish on Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. The first half of the stage is completely flat but the final 30km consist of one long drag up to the finish. The climb is split into two as there’s a category 1 KOM sprint 13.5km from the finish. Then the road is descending for 2.6km before it kicks up towards the finish. The final 5km average 6.8% and include several hairpin bends.

The weather:

Sunday will be another very hot day as the maximum temperature at the bottom of the final climb will be 34 degrees and there will be plenty of sunshine all day. There will be a light wind from a southerly direction which means that the riders will mainly have a headwind in the first part of the stage and a tailwind on the climb

The favourites:

After three days of survival, it is finally time to find out who’s going to win the Tour de Langkawi. The final four stages are unlikely to change anything and unless wind or crashes create a surprise, we will know the overall winner of the race by the end of tomorrow’s stage.

Until now the key contenders have all emerged unscathed. There was a split in stage 2 which meant that some of them lost a few seconds but it won’t play much of a role at the end of tomorrow’s stage. The final climb is nowhere near as tough as the Genting Highlands but it is steeper than the one that was used 12 months ago where it came down to a sprint from a pretty big group. The final five kilometres are not very steep but a 6.8% average gradient is enough to create time gaps in this field. When the climb was used in 2004, the gaps were pretty big.

All the climbers know that this stage is very likely to decide the GC and it is their highlight of the week. Hence, there will be no room for a breakaway and it will all come down to a showdown on the final climb. However, things could be tactical here. Miguel Angel Lopez is the overwhelming favourite but he will be isolated very early. Teams like Skydive and Unitedhealthcare are likely to have more cards to play and so can go on the attack. Only the final part of the climb is steep and drafting will play a big role for most of the ascent. This means that Lopez can find himself caught by a strong move on the lower slopes so there is no guarantee that it will be decided by the legs on this kind of climb.

Nonetheless, it is hard to look beyond Miguel Angel Lopez as the favourite. The field doesn’t include a lot of top level climbers but his name stands out. He is one of the biggest climbing talents in the world. He won the Tour de l’Avenir in 2014 and had an amazing debut at the pro level. When he first went for GC in a WorldTour race, he finished in the top 10 at the Tour de Suisse and he beat an elite field on a stage of the Vuelta a Burgos. Due to injuries, he raced very little but whenever he pinned on a number, he showed his class.

This year he again proved his amazing potential by winning the queen stage at the Tour de San Luis. He has not raced since then but has carefully been building his condition in Colombia. On paper, he should be in a class of his own in this race and the only way to really beat him will be by using the tactical opportunities that this kind of climb can offer.

Skydive Dubai go into the race with a two-pronged attack of Ivan Santaromita and Francisco Mancebo. The latter is still very competitive but he is not climbing as well as he once was. Hence, the leadership role will probably go to Santaromita who is eager to return to the WorldTour level next year. His first three races didn’t offer him any real opportunities to show his form so no one knows how he is going. However, he aims to be at his best for Coppi e Bartali and Giro del Trentino and so should be at a competitive level. He has not been at his best for several years though and it remains to be seen whether he can rediscover the legs that allowed him to win the Italian championships. With Mancebo at his side, he has tactical cards to play.

For Jesper Hansen, this is a rare chance to lead the Tinkoff team. He didn’t have much luck in his first years at the pro level but suddenly his legs came around when he rode to victory on at the Tour of Norway. He confirmed his potential with some amazing performances at the Vuelta where he rode in support of Rafal Majka. He was ill in San Luis but claims to be back on track after a solid training camp. If he can continue to build on the progress he showed last year, he will be one of the strongest in this race but like Lopez he will be isolated on the climb unless Evgeni Petrov suddenly returns to his former level.

Unitedhealthcare have three leaders: Janez Brajkovic, Jonathan Clarke and Daniel Jaramillo. The latter has failed to shine at the highest level so it will probably be left to Clarke and Brajkovic to go for the win. Brajkovic has had some troubled years but suddenly returned to form last autumn when he was in the top 5 at the Abu Dhabi Tour. He has not been at his best yet in 2016 but he showed growing condition by taking 15th on the Green Mountain in Oman. Here the level is lower and so he should be much closer to the front. With Unitedhealthcare have so many cards to play, they have a great chance to ride offensively and this could ultimately give them the win.

Clarke has spent several years as a domestique but suddenly turned into a climber at last year’s Tour of Utah. This year he confirmed his newfound skills at the Herald Sun Tour where he was third in the queen stage and one of the best on the climbs. The form is definitely there and as the final climb in the queen stage is not overly hard, he will be a contender.

Drapac have a two-pronged attack with Lachlan Norris and Gavin Mannion who have both shown their potential in the biggest American races. However, none of them were flying during the Australian summer. To be competitive here, they need to show a significant improvement but they have the potential to do well.

Bardiani’s Giulio Ciccone deserves a mention. The Italian neo-pro has been impressive in his first races as he has been among the best on the climbs in the Italian classics. This is a much longer climb but his performances in the U23 races prove that he can handle this challenge as well.

CyclingQuotes’ stage winner pick: Miguel Angel Lopez

Other winner candidates: Ivan Santaromita, Jesper Hansen

Outsiders: Janez Brajkovic , Jonathan Clarke, Francisco Mancebo

Jokers: Lachlan Norris, Gavin Mannion, Daniel Jaramillo, Giulio Ciccone, John Ebsen