Five days with the mountains in the spotlight
44th Tour of the Alps
From 19 to 23 April
Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige and Austria’s Tyrol will host one of the most demanding races on the international cycling scene for five days. Once known as the Giro del Trentino, it is, in essence, a race dedicated to orographic difficulties. The mountains are the main protagonist. And its mountains are home to some of the best climbers on the current scene. The next competitive challenge for the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team is a race with a high level that arouses more and more interest.
The Tour of the Alps is such a praise to climbing that all its days have a significant cumulative climb. Even the organisation, ironically, proposes not to score all the mountain climbs that are passed during the race. In 2021 (in 2020 it was postponed due to the pandemic and its lockdowns), the race will have ten summits that will count towards the Grand Prix of the mountains. And at least five others that could well be considered, but do not add up to points. Prototypical may be the case of the Passo Castrín on the fourth stage, the queen day. Tended, long, this climb accompanies the Passo Campo Carlo Magno and Boniprati in the profile. Additional wear and tear with no points at stake at its summit.
The Contador Foundation ProTeam takes part with a climbing block, as the profiles demand, which has been working intensively for two weeks at the altitude of Sierra Nevada (Granada, Andalusia; Spain). Briton Mark Christian, Spaniard Alejandro Ropero, Hungarians Márton Dina and Erik Fetter and Italians Davide Bais, Alessandro Fancellu and Edward Ravasi make up the starting ‘seven’. More than half of the participating teams, up to 13, are WorldTour teams. A preview to foresee a great daily battle.
Mark Christian: “It’s been a great camp with a lot of hard work. My first time in Sierra Nevada – I’ve really liked both the resort and the area around for training. I am sure the work we have done here will help us towards our next goals. I believe we can go into the Tour of the Alps confident. It’s one of the harder races but we feel we are ready to compete! We want to show ourselves as best as possible. The team is working hard in all areas, and from the riders side I feel our performances in races our gradually improving each race. Step by step”.
Edward Ravasi: “I ve done a very good work here in Sierra Nevada after Coppi e Bartali. Tour of the Alps represents a very important test for me, the stages are good for me and I want to do well. I did two time this race and for sure the level will be high. I will fight for the best possible result”.
The stages.
April 19: Brixen / Bressanone – Innsbruck (140.6 km).
April 20: Innsbruck – Feichten im Kaunertal (121.5 km).
April 21: Imst – Naturns / Naturno (162 km).
April 22: Naturs – Valle del Chiese / Pieve di Bono (168.6 km).
April 23: Valle del Chiese / Idroland – Riva del Garda (120.9 km).
