Team Ineos have identified the 2020 Tour of the Alps as a key test of their form and team for the 2020 Giro d'Italia and will spend time in Italy before and after the race for vital stage reconnaissance. It is unclear if Richard Carapaz will ride Tour of the Alps he prepares to defend his 2019 Giro d'Italia victory but his team are expected to send a large part of their Giro d'Italia line-up to the race.
A total of eight WorldTour teams confirmed for the five-day race that climbs between Trentino, Sudtirol and Tirol in Italy and Austria between April 20-24.
Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) have also opted to use the Tour of the Alps as their preferred route to the Giro.
CCC Team, whose leader could be either Russia's Ilnur Zakarin or their new signing, 2019 Tour of the Alps stage winner Fausto Masnada, UAE Team Emirates with Valerio Conti and Under 23 Giro winner Andres Camilo Ardila, and Bahrain-McLaren complete the list.
The Tour of the Alps clashes with La Flèche Wallonne but the Giro d'Italia contenders often prefer to ride in the mountains and then head north for Liège-Bastogne-Lie1ge on the following Sunday. The Tour of the Alps has opted for short and intense stages since its evolution from the Giro del Trentino, with recent winners including Geraint Thomas (2017), Thibaut Pinot (2018) and Pavel Sivakov (2019).
Nibali finished third behind Sivakov and Geoghegan Hart at the Tour of the Alps before going on to finish second at the Giro d'Italia in 2019. He has moved from Bahrain-Merida to Trek-Segafredo for 2020 but kept the Tour of the Alps on his race programme. Romain Bardet has abandoned the Tour de France for the Giro d'Italia and added the Tour of the Alps to his spring race programme as a consequence.
Race organisers have confirmed that nine ProTeams, two Austrian Continental teams and an Italian national team will complete the start list alongside the eight WorldTour teams.
Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, Bardiani-CSF and Vini Zabù-KTM will fly the flag for Italy, with Caja Rural Seguros-RGA and Fundacion Euskadi, B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, Uno-X Norwegian, Nippo Delko One Provence and Russian Gazprom-Rusvelo also invited. The two Austrian tams are Tirol KTM Cycling Team and Team Felbermayr Simplon Wels, with a young Italian national team creating a total of 20 teams and a 140-rider peloton.
Cyclingnews will again attend the Tour of the Alps, gathering exclusive news and interviews as well full stage reports and photo galleries.
