April 20, 2026
The Tour of the Alps is the last real opportunity to hone form for the GC contenders and domestiques alike before the Giro d'Italia starts in Bulgaria just 18 days from now. Many riders we'll see fighting for Pink are lining up in Innsbruck for five days of racing to test their shape and get some hard kilometers in the legs. The opening stage is the easiest on paper at 144 km with a smidge under 2,000 meters of elevation gain. When the bunch rolls out, they will follow the Inn River on its Southern banks down to Telfs where they cross to complete two laps of a 24 km circuit with the 6.2 km climb to Meiminger Plateau on each lap which averages a bit under 4%. The riders then re-trace their steps back to Innsbruck for two, 19 km laps with the 4 km, 7% climb to Gotzens each time around which is immediately followed by 1 km ramp at 6% to Axams. The last 15 km are generally flat into the city with two or three small rises along the way.
Highlighted Riders:
Michael Storer, Egan Bernal, Thymen Arensman, Jakob Omrzel, Derek Gee, Alex Cepeda, Giulio Pellizzari, Ben O'Connor, Tom Pidcock
Race Summary
The mountains have not warmed up as early as some of the lower laying land so when the riders set off from the Capital of the Alps, they were wrapped up in arm warmers with an extra jacket on, just in case. Snow was still piled thick on the peaks but the valley's were verdant with the blossoming of Spring. Fortunately, the skies were clear as Emanuel Zangerle of Team Vorarlberg was the first attacker, sprinting from the bunch on the smooth tarmac that Switzerland is so well known for. His teammate, Tobias Nolde, went along for the ride with Josef Dirnbauer of the Austrian National Team. With 64 km to go, they had 4 minutes on the peloton who were being led by Ineos and Jayco AlUla on the journey back up the valley towards Innsbruck and Gotzens.
The gap extended to 4 minutes 15 seconds by the start of the first ascent of Gotzens at 48 km to go but there was no stress in the bunch. A full minute was trimmed by the top and another 30 seconds were gone by the top of Axams with 40 km to go. On the approach to Gotzens for the second time, the peloton finally showed some life as they began the battle for position into the bottom of the climb. Tudor Pro Cycling, Ineos, Bahrain Victorious, EF-Education EasyPost, and Jayco AlUla were all looking to start Gotzens in the best position as possible.
The advantage to the break was down to 2 minutes when they started climbing. Nolde gave one last pull on the front before waiving goodbye to Zangerle and Dirnbauer. The bunch rode conservatively up the climb but it was quick enough to pare their deficit to just 30 seconds by the top with 25 km to go. Instead of mountains points, there were bonus seconds available at the top of Axams. Zangerle went clear of Dirnbauer but they each took the first two positions which left 2 bonus seconds for someone in the peloton. A handful of GC riders sprinted out of the peloton and it was Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla that nabbed the 2 seconds ahead of Alex Cepeda of EF-Education EasyPost who came up empty handed.
Zangerle retained a marginal gap of 7 seconds to the peloton down the descent and started the flat 16 km run back into Innsbruck. Jayco AlUla mobbed the front of the peloton with six riders still on the front but the speed wasn't rapid and Zangerle was able to extend his lead to 24 seconds with 8 km to go. At this point, teams started to move forward and the bunch was starting to swirl with the fight for position. Polti-VisitMalta threw their hat into the ring to show intention for the stage win and, naturally, the speed increased as the finish drew nearer.
After a strong performance, Zangerle was finally tagged by the bunch with 5 km to go as the lead outs were in full flight. Ineos won the battle through a corner and onto one of the short rises with 4.5 km to go and lit the race up like the finish was at the top. The acceleration set up Thymen Arensman who attacked with his teammates behind him, leaving a gap for the rest of the peloton to close. Tudor Pro Cycling organized a chase and they had about 8 seconds to close on the Dutchman. Pinarello Q36.5 lent a man to the chase and were 5 seconds behind Arensman through 1 km to go. Jayco AlUla and Team UKYO arrived on the front with 400 meters to go as the final lead out was taking shape. Team UKYO had the resources to drop Tommaso Dati off with 150 meters to go and the Italian launched from second wheel. He went passed Arensman in the last 50 meters and sailed across the line to take a major victory for the Japanese squad, their first UCI.Pro win since the Tour of Langkawi in 2024. Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 was second best on the day after coming back from a knee injury in Catalunya. Florian Stork of Tudor Pro Cycling filled out the podium for third place.