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2019 Tour of the Alps 22 - 26 April

Thread for all things on the 2019 Tour of the Alps 22 - 26 April

Website (English) at https://www.tourofthealps.eu/en/

Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/Tourof_TheAlps

Startlist at https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-of-the-alps/2019/gc/startlist
BahrainM, Sky, AG2R, Bora & Astana + lesser teams. Dawg versus Nibs ... or training jaunt.

TV times 14.00 CET

Stage 1 Kufstein to Kufstein 144 km start 11.45 CET

The 2019 TotA starts from Kufstein with a lumpy stage, in spite of the lack of long climbs. The opening stage features two different circuits: the first one, of about 34,5 km, to be repeated three times, followed by a second one to be taken in twice. The first loop unrolls through the Inn valley, and presents a climb to the Mariastein sanctuary (featuring a short stint with gradients grazing 10%), and a second one that alternates gradients and flatter stints to recover. As the race passes on the finish line for the third time, the peloton will tackle a second loop, characterized by two climbs. The first one measures about 3 km, with a 6,5% average gradient, whilst the second and most demanding of the two - about 2 km at a 10% average gradient - will have to be climbed twice in the 13,5 km loop. The first time on the ascent will award KOM points, and only 13 km will be left in the stage when the riders will reach the top for the second time. After the descent, the peloton will rise again - though shortly - to the Marblinger Hohe. From there, only 3 km on descent and 1,5 flat km will separate the leaders from the finish line.

Profile
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Map of stage
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'Twil be Team Sky's last race before becoming team .... er .... something at Romandie and then Team Ineos.

https://twitter.com/Tourof_TheAlps/status/1119984962655215616
From #Kufstein, @chrisfroome: "It's strange to think that this will be the last stage race under the current naming for @TeamSky, but it would be nice to end with a great win to honor the race and the sponsor".

(Let us hope that Little Kenny E gives his all in the Vockler Guerning Award)
 
Is Nibali really the only serious Giro contender here?

Giro contenders usually don't bother with Romandie.

Which means that they will all (Nibali always peaks third week) enter the race with very little form, and won't mind just getting through the stage 1 ITT and will hope to ride into form by the stage 9 second ITT, but still not hitting close to a peak until stages 13-16.

It will be interesting to see if stage 6 or 7 catch a big gun out. The profiles don't look like much, but this is the Giro, not the Tour.
 
Re:

gregrowlerson said:
Is Nibali really the only serious Giro contender here?

Giro contenders usually don't bother with Romandie.

Which means that they will all (Nibali always peaks third week) enter the race with very little form, and won't mind just getting through the stage 1 ITT and will hope to ride into form by the stage 9 second ITT, but still not hitting close to a peak until stages 13-16.

It will be interesting to see if stage 6 or 7 catch a big gun out. The profiles don't look like much, but this is the Giro, not the Tour.

With so many doing Giro & TdF it sounds like the plan for a few riders.
 
I like the route this year. Every stage looks pretty good and there's no obvious place to take a lot of time. Should be pretty unpredictable, but Im guess a little down on the startlist which is much worse than usually unfortunately. At least I can laugh at Froome.
 

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