Tour of the Alps 2025 Stage 4

April 24, 2025 It is a bit redundant to say it's another hard stage of the Tour of the Alps but it is indeed another hard stage. 162KM from Sillian in Italy to Obertilliach in Austria with almost 3,400M of elevation will test the endurance of the GC riders after difficult stages earlier this week. After the Passo Di Monte Croce Comelico that comes halfway through the stage, the riders take on the descent and long valley road that runs false flat downhill to Mittewald to the start of the Anras-Oberried which is 4.6KM at over 8%. There is a short descent into Abfaltersbach where the start of the penultimate climb starts. The Strassan is only 2.2KM long but averages over 10%. Another short descent leads to Tassenbach to the start of the final climb to Kartitscher-Sattel which is 7.6KM at almost 6% and tops out 7KM from the finish before a short descent and dragging run into Obertilliach. It was a chillier start but the beginning of the race was very active. Lennart Jasch of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Felix Engelhardt of Jayco AlUla, Geoffrey Bouchard of Decathlon AG2R, Kim Heiduk of Ineos, Andrea Pietrobon of Polti-VisitMalta, and Emanuel Zangerle of Team Vorarlberg. The race was in pieces over the Passo Di Monte Croce Comelico and with 53KM to go on the valley road after the climb, Thymen Arensman of Ineos had 1 minute 30 seconds on a chase group containing Derek Gee of Israel-Premier Tech and Koen Bouwman of Jayco AlUla and nearly 3 minutes on a very reduced peloton of fewer than 18 rider led by Decathlon AG2R. Arensman started the climb of Anras-Oberried with 38KM to go. He had 55 seconds on Gee and Bouwman, 3 minutes on Max Poole of Picnic-PostNL and Zangerle, and almost 4 minutes on the favorites. Race leader Michael Storer of Tudor Pro Cycling attacked the favorites on the climb and the group exploded, spread in one's and two's down the road. By the bottom, Arensman had 46 seconds on Gee with Storer cutting 1 minute off the lead, now at 3 minutes behind. Felix Gall of Decathlon AG2R and Poole were just in front of the rest of the favorites containing Alex Cepeda of EF-Education EasyPost, Jai Hindley of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Damiano Caruso of Bahrain Victorious, Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek, Romain Bardet of Picnic-Post NL, and Paul Double of Jayco AlUla at 3 minutes 35 seconds. The race settled into a slow pursuit on the Strassan climb with 23KM to go. Gee dropped Bouwman and was 25 seconds behind Arensman. Storer was next on the road at 3 minutes, 45 seconds ahead of the rest of the favorites, now including Poole who had dropped back. Storer stormed up the Strassan and cut a minute off of Arensman's lead, now 2 minutes, but still needed to bring back another 45 seconds to keep his GC lead. Arensman was a metronome and kept his power even throughout the final climb and to the finish. His ride was sensational and got a well deserved win when he crossed the line in Obertilliach after being solo for 76KM. The clock started ticking for Gee and Storer with the GC on the line. Gee stopped the clock at 1 minute 18 seconds with Storer coming in 5 seconds later which was just 11 seconds short of defending the race lead. It's a two horse race now in the GC with one day remaining. Arensman leads Storer by 11 seconds with Gee moving up 12 positions to third at 2 minutes 15 seconds.