The time trialists had the upper hand on the first of the three crucial stages and now it is time for the punchy classics specialists to hit back. A mini Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a highly anticipated summit finish on the Cote de La Redoute awaits the riders today on a stage that has the potential to open some significant time gaps among the GC contenders. World champion Philippe Gilbert has red-circled this stage on home soil as a perfect opportunity to take his first win in the rainbow jersey while Lars Boom will go all out in some slightly unfamiliar terrain as he tries to defend his leader's jersey. Starting at 14.30, you can follow the hilly Ardennes stage live on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

The course

Today the riders head into the Ardennes for the penultimate stage which will see the riders tackle the famous Cote de la Redoute which is known from the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. At 150km, the stage is a short one but what it lacks in length is made up for by the difficult nature of the course.

From the start in the Belgian city of Riemst just South of Maastricht and the border, the riders make their way around a short circuit that sends them up the Muizenberg (0,65km, 6,6%) and Cote de Halembaye (1,1km, 6,6%) climbs. From there, they head south into the Ardennes heartland and the roads gradually get more hilly as the riders face a long uncategorized climb. The Cote de Foret (3,1km, 5,5%) and the Cote de Banneux (3,5km, 5,6%) are obstacles as the riders head towards the finishing circuit and the city of Aywaille that hosts the finish.

With 61km to go, the riders get onto the circuit and head up the famous Redoute (1,65km, 9,5%) (albeit from a different direction than in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege) and cross the finish line at the top for the first time with 59,4km to go. From there, they will cover 2 laps of the 29,7km finishing circuit which has no flat roads at all. The descent from La Redoute is followed by the uncategorized Rue de Baron (1,8km, 3,8%), a subsequent descent, the Cote de Chambralles (1,55km, 9,5%), another descent and the Cote de Niaster (1,8km, 7,7%). A downhill section leads to the bottom of La Redoute. With a summit finish on the most famous climb of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, this is by far the most difficult stage that has ever been ridden in the Eneco Tour and we should see bigger time gaps than usual on this very hard course. The finish is rather technical  with 6 sharp turns inside the final 2km, the last one being located just 500m from the finish line.

The weather

The summer returned for yesterday's time trial and while it may not be as hot as it was 24 hours ago, the riders should enjoy another beautiful day. The sun will show its face momentarily on a mostly cloudy day and the temperatures will reach the 25-degree mark late in the afternoon.

There will only be a light wind from a southwestern direction which means that the riders will mostly have a cross-headwind on the long run towards the finishing circuit in Aywaille. On that circuit, they will face a headwind in the first part while they will be assisted by a tailwind as they head from the Cote de Chambralles back towards the top of La Redoute. The riders should mostly have a tailwind in the final climb and the wind will be directly in their back when they tackle the 500m finishing straight to the top of the climb.

The favourites

Will today be the day where the stars finally align for Philippe Gilbert? The world champion still hasn't won a race in his rainbow jersey and there is no doubt that he has red-circled today's stage on home soil and in his preferred Ardennes terrain as the day to finally open up his 2013 tally. The lumpy profile and steep uphill finish suis him perfectly and he stands out as the major favourite for today.

While he is still far from his 2011 level, Gilbert appears to be riding solidly these days. He finished 2nd in the uphill finish on stage 2 and did a solid, yet unspectacular, time trial yesterday. Like last year he seems to have benefited from riding the Tour and if he gets to the bottom of the Redoute in the lead group, he will be hard to beat, mostly because only very few Ardennes specialists have included the Eneco Tour on their schedule. Most of his rivals are more suited to the cobbled classics than the longer climbs in the Ardennes, and in this field he should be superior on a stage like today's.

He is just 18 seconds behind Lars Boom on GC and with 10 bonus seconds on offer, he has a good chance of winning the race overall as gaps are also bound to open up in the finale. His main difficulty will be to keep everything together for the final time up the Redoute.  He may be surrounded by a solid team of classics riders but none of them excel in the Ardennes. With numerous climbs in the final kilometres, the race will be very hard to control.

One rider that could exploit an unorganized peloton is Jan Bakelants. The strong Belgian is a fantastic breakaway artist who knows how to finish off late attacks in terrain like today's. Despite his strong showing in the Tour, his condition is still good and he has set his sights on a high overall finish in this race. He may be mostly known for his aggressive racing but he is actually a quite punchy rider as well who is well-suited to this kind of course. Having finished strongly in the uphill finish on stage 2, he showed that his climbing legs are up to speed and even Gilbert cannot feel sure to beat his compatriot the final time up La Redoute. However, his best card is a late breakaway and the main teams will have to stay attentive, should the Radioshack captain go off the front.

One of the few climbers in the race is Wilco Kelderman who is also a rather punchy rider. He is well-suited to this kind of course and his recent win in the Tour of Denmark proves that he is in blistering condition at the moment. He may have hoped for a better performance in yesterday's time trial but he is still very much in the mix. He could be the rider who has the best chance of beating Gilbert in a final sprint up La Redoute. What speaks against a Kelderman win is his team commitment. Lars Boom wears the leader's jersey and Belkin faces an awful lot of work if they want to keep the race under control. With Theo Bos and Mark Renshaw both out of the race, the Dutch team is down to just 6 riders and Kelderman may have to sacrifice his own chances to support the defending champion.

The in-form climber of the race is certainly Pieter Weening. The recent Tour de Pologne winner is probably the strongest on the ascents at the moment and his time trial performance yesterday was just another testament to his current level. The Dutchman is not very explosive and will find it difficult to win, should it come down to the final dash up La Redoute. He is, however, a very aggressive rider and it would be a surprise not to see the Dutchman go off the front in the finale as Orica-GreenEdge tries to benefit from their strength in numbers. If that happens, he will be very difficult to reel in.

Zdenek Stybar may have mostly focused on the cobbled classics but the former world cyclo-cross champion also thrives on courses that are far hillier. He has won the queen stage of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque and that stage and today's are not too dissimilar. The Czech is one of three Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders who have set their sights on the GC in this race and due to his fast finish, he will be a big rival for Gilbert, should it come down to an uphill sprint. His masterpiece on stage 3 proves that he has recovered from his recent surgery and no one can rule out another win from the Czech today.

As a former Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner, Maxim Iglinskiy is perfectly suited to today's course and the Kazakh is better than usual at this time of the season. To skip the Tour appeared to be a wise decision as he now seems to have a very good condition for the races that really suit him. For him to finish 44th in the time trial was no bad effort and his 20th place on stage 2 was another testament to his form. The harder stage today suits him well and as an explosive rider, he will be very hard to contend with in a final uphill sprint.

Race leader Lars Boom is in slightly unfamiliar terrain, having mostly excelled in the cobbled classics, and today's course could very well be a little bit too tough for the Dutchman. However, he is in the form of his life at the moment, and while some may have been disappointed by his time trial performance yesterday, it was much better than what we have seen from him during the last couple of seasons. He is fast and climbs well and so no one can rule out a Boom win today.

A long-distance breakaway will have few chances of making it to the finish as BMC will do their utmost to keep it together to set up a Gilbert win. However, there is no guarantee that it will come down to a select group of favourites. We could very well see a late move stay clear to the finish as it will mostly be left to Belkin and BMC to keep everything together in the final part while Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Radioshack and Orica-GreenEdge will try to use their strength in numbers to create an uncontrollable finale. Should Gilbert get isolated too quickly, he may even decide to attack himself from afar to reduce the number of potential late escapees. In any case, we should be in for a very exciting finale with numerous attacks and extremely aggressive racing.

CyclingQuotes' stage winner pick: Philippe Gilbert

Other winner candidates: Jan Bakelants, Wilco Kelderman

Outsiders: Pieter Weening, Zdenek Stybar, Maxim Iglinskiy, Lars Boom