Stage 5 of this years ToB starts from Machynlleth on Sep 19th ... so I thought I'd pop up onto the mountain road and watch them go by. However, a quick on-line search for a start time reveals that they're not using the mountain road They'll be coming up the main road from Mach' towards Llanbrynmair and passing through Pennant before heading to Llanidloes.

I can't (I mean, really can't) understand why they're not using one of the top 5 iconic road climbs in Wales. I thought roadies liked going up hills but the route profile never rises above 400m

Know what you mean, but it might have something to do with it being too early in the stage. Maybe pro riders like more of a warm up?