After today's queen stage, most GC contenders may be prepared to battle it out in Sunday's final time trial but before getting to the race against the clock, they face tomorrow's final road stage that can't be underestimated. An 11% cobbled climb just 10km from the finish will serve as the perfect launch pad for an attack and even though the most likely outcome is some kind of sprint finish, one should not be surprised to see one or two GC riders give it a go in the finale.

The course

After the queen stage, the GC battle will be put on hold for a day when the riders tackle the final road stage of the race. The penultimate stage is a circuit race in Fribourg that sees the riders tackle 6 laps of a hilly 29km loop in the area south of the city.

On paper, the stage may seen to be rather flat but it would be a mistake to underestimate the terrain in this part of Switzerland. The roads are very undulating and always up and down, offering very few metres of riding on the flats.

The first part of the circuit consists of a rolling road from Fribourg in southwesterly direction that precedes a left-hand turn that takes the riders in an easterly direction up the main climb of the circuit. The 2.6km ascent has an average gradient of 4.9% and is followed by a short descent and then a steep uncategorized climb of 500m that averages 11.9%.

From the top of the latter, 9.8km remain to the finish and they are the easiest of the circuit as they take the riders down the descent and along flat roads back to the finish in Fribourg. The downhill section end 3.6km from the finish and then it's virtually flat all the way to the line. The final road has a few sweeping bends but the final one comes 800m from the line and from there it is straight to the finish.

The weather

After today's wet and cold affair, the riders can expect better conditions for tomorrow's final road stage. Rain should fall in the morning but by the time the riders take off, it should stay dry. There may even be a chance to see the sun but it won't be overly hot as the temperature will reach a maximum of 11 degrees.

Compared to the last few days, it will be more windy as there will be a moderate wind from a northeasterly direction. This means that the riders will have a tailwind on the first part of the circuit and a cross-headwind on both climbs. Then they will turn into a crosswind that briefly becomes a headwind. It will be a headwind again between the 2km and 1km to go marks and a crosswind on the finishing straight.

The favouites

Many sprinters have been left frustrated in this race. The first stage proved to be a bit too tough for almost all the fast finishers while most of them got boxed in the second stage. They are left with just one chance to make their mark on this race: tomorrow's final road stage of the race.

The stage, however, is a tricky affair that cannot be underestimated. In itself, the circuit is not too hard but over six laps, the amount of climbing takes its toll and in total there will be 2226 vertical metres to cover in the 173.1km stages. Especially the short, steep, cobbled hill could do some damage on the legs of the fast finishers and may serve as the springboard for late attacks. Some of the sprinters will definitely be unpleasantly surprised and we are pretty sure that some of them will have been left behind by the time they reach the finish in Fribourg for the final time.

Big gaps have now opened up on GC and so there is a much bigger chance that a break will stay away than there was earlier in the week. The lumpy terrain makes it difficult to control the escapees and already on stage 2, the sprint teams almost came up short. For many riders, tomorrow's stage is the final chance to chase success and we can expect a very fast start to the stage with numerous attacks until the break finally takes off.

If a big group goes clear, a break definitely has a chance to make it. On the other hand, the many frustrated sprinters are unwilling to let this opportunity pass away. Giant-Shimano, Trek and Belkin have not an awful lot of opportunities in the GC and they can leave it all on the road in tomorrow's stage. All three teams have made it clear that they regard the stage as a big opportunity for their sprinters and they will do their utmost to bring it back together for a bunch sprint.

This means that the most likely outcome is again a sprint finish and the main question is how many fast finishers will be left at the end. The climbing is not as tough as it was on the opening stage but it should be a lot harder than it was yesterday. Hence, the sprinters will have to dig pretty deep to survive until the end.

Most GC riders will focus on the final time trial and will be keen to save as much energy as possible. However, we wouldn't be surprised if riders like Thibaut Pinot and Rafal Majka who lost a bit of time due to bad luck in today's stage and will lose a lot of time in the final time trial, will give it a try the final time up the cobbled climb. The short, steep ramp is certainly hard enough to make a difference at the end of a tough race but with a long, flat stretch back to the finish in Fribourg, it will be hard to stay away. If the sprint teams are on their knees in the final, a strong, late attack could make it to the finish.

The most likely scenario, however, is a bunch sprint and for the third time, we will put our money on Luka Mezgec. In this field, only one rider should be faster  than the Slovenian and that is his own teammate Marcel Kittel. The German, however, is mainly here to prepare for the Giro and this is a perfect opportunity for him to give his teammate a chance to sprint for himself before the Italian grand tour where he will devote himself to his captain. Kittel didn't make it over the climbs on stage 2 and this makes it unlikely that he will be able to handle tomorrow's harder stage.

This puts Mezgec in pole position and his team has done nothing to hide that it is targeting a bunch sprint tomorrow. On stage 2, the Slovenian appeared to be comfortable on the climbs and we doubt that the ascents will be enough to leave him behind.

As said, Mezgec should be the fastest in a bunch sprint but on stage 2, he got boxed in the finale when he made a costly mistake by drifting too far back on the final descent. He will have learnt from the mistake and not allow such a lapse of concentration destroy his chances again but he still has to overcome his main disadvantage which is a lack of team support. With Kittel and Tom Veelers likely to have been dropped, only Albert Timmer has lead-out experience and he will be up against some rather well-drilled machines from Trek and Belkin. In Catalonia, however, he proved that he knows how to handle the sprints on his own and with Timmer at his side, he will be the rider to beat if it comes down to a sprint.

In stage 2, Giacomo Nizzolo did a long sprint that ended up being the perfect lead-out for eventual winner Michael Albasini and he will be keen to make amends in tomorrow's stage. On paper, he is clearly one of the fastest riders in this race but we haven't been too impressed by his climbing so far. In fact, he was seen struggling at the back on stage 2 and barely made it over the final climb with the peloton.

Usually, he is no bad climber though and he definitely has a big chance to make it to the finish with the best. If that happens, he is one of the very fastest in this peloton as he proved in stage 2 where he probably did the best sprint of them all as he came very fast from behind despite taking off from afar. With Jesse Sergent and Danilo Hondo at his side, he has probably the best lead-out and that combination could prove to be a winning one.

Belkin were extremely disappointed at the end of stage 2 as they had everything right to tire out their rivals ahead of the final sprint. However, Moreno Hofland got boxed in the finale and finished outside the top 10. Tomorrow they will be keen to take their revenge and Hofland is definitely an obvious winner candidate.

He seemed to be handling the climbing much better than most of his fellow sprinters and this should leave him fresher at the finish. At the same time, he is surrounded by fast riders like Jonathan Hivert and Paul Martens that will be able to support him in the finale. In Paris-Nice, he proved that he has the speed to beat some of the fastest riders in the world when the finishing straight is slightly uphill as it will be the case in tomorrow's stage. In general, the stage suits him down to the ground and he will be a clear winner candidate.

After his two stage wins, it is hard not to include Michael Albasini as a potential winner. The Swiss has proved just how fast he is at the end of a tough race and tomorrow's stage will definitely be a hard one. However, he is not as fast as the likes of Hofland and Nizzolo and he only won the bunch sprint in stage 2 because his faster rivals were either boxed or hit the wind too early. He openly admitted that he never expected to win such a big bunch sprint and everything needs to go perfectly for him to take another win. If the race turns out to be harder than expected, however, no one can rule out another Albasini victory.

On stage 2, Tony Hurel has proved how far he has come during the last year when he finished 2nd behind Albasini. The fast Frenchman is no pure sprinter but in hard races he is up there with the best. He already put his sprinting skills on show at the WorldTour level in Tirreno-Adriatico where he twice finished in the top 10. In this field, he will have a much better chance and he has excellent support from an in-form Bjorn Thurau in the finale. He is a solid climber and generally excels in uphill sprints like the one tomorrow. Europcar have featured very prominently in this race and tomorrow they could get a rare WorldTour victory with their fast sprinter.

Kittel of course deserves an outsider chance as no one can rule out the German. This year he has been climbing much better than ever before and the shorter climbs in tomorrow's stage should suit him better. He is not too focused on results in this race and will be reluctant to dig too deep so close to the Giro but if the race turns out to be less hard, he could make it over the climbs with the best. The long finishing straight suits a power sprinter like him perfectly and with Timmer and Mezgec to guide him in the finale, he will be hard to beat if he is there at the end.

Finally, we will select our jokers. Among the sprinters, Alexey Tsatevich is probably the best climber among the sprinters and he missed a great chance on stage 1 when he punctured out of the lead group just 7km from the line. He showed his excellent condition on stage 2 where he finished fourth and tomorrow's harder stage should suit him even better. He is not fast enough to beat the pure sprinters in a straight battle but if the race turns out to be harder than expected, he could be one of the fastest riders left in the bunch. If that happens, he could make it two in a row for Katusha.

Roberto Ferrari finds himself in the opposite situation. The Italian needs the race to be as easy as possible to have a chance but he surprised us by making it over the climbs yesterday. He got boxed in the sprint but the performance proves that he riding well at the moment. He is a very explosive sprinter and clearly one of the very fastest in this peloton. With riders like Elia Favillia and Manuele Mori to guide him in the finale, he has solid team support and he usually handle the positioning better than most. We doubt that he will be there in the end but if he proves us wrong, he will be a clear winner candidate.

CyclingQuotes' stage winner pick: Luka Mezgec

Other winner candidates: Giacomo Nizzolo, Moreno Hofland

Outsiders: Michael Albasini, Tony Hurel, Marcel Kittel

Jokers: Alexey Tsatevich, Roberto Ferrari