The Tour of the Alps will again offer the perfect road to the Giro d’Italia and a fast track last block of racing for Liége-Bastogne-Liége, with the five-days in the Euroregion of northern Italy and Austria again offering plenty of climbing and intense racing.
The Tour of the Alps comes just two weeks before the Giro d'Italia starts in Budapest and ends on April 22, allowing some riders to travel quickly to Belgium and ride Sunday’s Liége-Bastogne-Liége.
Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious), Hugh Carthy (EF-Education-EasyPost), Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Qazaqstan), Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe), Richie Porte and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadier) will all travel to Cles amongst the Merlinda apple orchards for the start of the race on April 14, with several teams also likely to carry out Giro d’Italia reconnaissance in the area before the race.
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Race organisers have also confirmed the presence of Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Team DSM).
10 WorldTour teams are confirmed to compete at this year's 45th edition of the race, with riders competing for the green race leader's jersey. Recent winners include Simon Yates (in 2021), Sivakov (2019), Pinot (2018) and Geraint Thomas (2017).
The Tour of the Alps will cover 728 kilometres in the Trentino, Südtirol and Tirol regions of northern Italy and Austria.
The opening stage descends from Cles and then climbs towards the Dolomites for a finish in Primiero/San Martino di Castrozza. A second mountain stage heads north to Lana via the snow-covered Passo Rolle and the Passo della Mendola, before stage 3 turns east and climbs the Passo Furcia before a drop down to the Villabassa finish in the Val Pusteria that leads into Austria.
Stage 4 finish is the queen stage, with a 12.5km climb up to the line in the shadow of the Groβglockner - Austria's highest peak. The Tour of the Alps ends on April 18 with a final short but intense mountain stage around Lienz. Stage 1 is the longest of the week at 160km, with race director Maurizio Evangelista favouring intensity and entertaining racing over long distances.
This year's Tour of the Alps ends on the fifth anniversary of the death of Michele Scarponi, who had won a stage in that year's race. He was killed by a vehicle while training near his home. Scarponi's parents and brother will be present for the final stage in Lienz, strengthening the race's bond with the Michele Scarponi Foundation, which promotes road safety in Italy.
The race organisers have increased their own safety strategy, with the riders protected by 30 motorbike marshals and a new system of temporary protection and highlighting of key points which will be fitted and then removed ahead and after the race.
