Survives to the final bend (5)
I believe the answer is:
lasts
'survives' is the definition.
('last' can be a synonym of 'survive')
'the final bend' is the wordplay.
'the final' becomes 'last' (I've seen this before).
'bend' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'last'+'s'='LASTS'
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for lasts that I've seen before include "Keeps on" , "carries on" , "Holds out" , "Endures" , "Goes on" .)