2025 Tour of the Alps (April 21-25)

[pastronef]

last stage has climbs with steep gradients

 

[QueenStagiaire]

As today‘s stage took five hours and two seconds and the final climb delivered, this goes down as a W for long mountain stages.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Tiberi out of Tour de Alps with illness.
Sorry, obligatory "cat-scratch fever" joke, those are the rules.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Tiberi out of Tour de Alps with illness.
Sorry, obligatory "cat-scratch fever" joke, those are the rules.

If my cat didn't already dissapear one month ago I'd be relieved about him not coming to my hometown...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Can someone explain to me the criteria for KOM classification in this race?

7.8 km at 8% unclassified
4.7 km at 8.8% unclassified
and a bunch of little ramps at 10% unclassified.

Because Italy.
Tomorrow the unclassified climb is the first 4.5kms of this side of Erbe.

I prefer that side staight after Furcia because you avoid the traffic on the main ride.
Also, I have climbed every single climb left in the race besides the Stronach climb (last climb of the last stage) multiple times, so I can actually give some insight when it comes to those climbs.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Watched a bit of the replay, that Seixas x Gall duo has potential to provide some great comedy in the coming years.

 

[zlev11]

beautiful route, beautiful stage

 

[zlev11]

As today‘s stage took five hours and two seconds and the final climb delivered, this goes down as a W for long mountain stages.

long mountain stages are the future, with everyone being so physiologically optimized all the time

 

[Salvarani]

Stage 1.

Rnk	Rider	Team
1	CICCONE Giulio	Lidl - Trek
2	GALL Felix	Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
3	SEIXAS Paul	Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team

Stage 2.

Rnk	Rider	Team
1	STORER Michael	Tudor Pro Cycling Team
2	SEIXAS Paul	Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
3	BARDET Romain	Team Picnic PostNL

According to my brilliant predictive skills, Seixas will win tomorrow. (Ahead of Bardet).

Are they as good as your math skills?

 

[Cookster15]

Storer just too strong. Gap was only 10 sec after the climb, only blew out in the final 2 km. Looked like the lead chase group ran out of gas.

 

[ppanther92]

Watched a bit of the replay, that Seixas x Gall duo has potential to provide some great comedy in the coming years.

I think Gall simply was too weak today for doing something. Seixas had him on the verge of dropping with upping the tempo a few times.

 

[Cookster15]

Froome finished 14 minutes down in the caboose. Another great pay day for turning up

 

[Sciatic]

Why do they finish these stages so early (about 1530)? I thought Italians didn’t eat dinner until around 8:00, so what’s the rush?

 

[Red Rick]

If my cat didn't already dissapear one month ago I'd be relieved about him not coming to my hometown...

I wanna joke but that's just very sad

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Michael Storer took full advantage of AG2R's questionable tactics and the Pantani-esque slipstream that suddenly appeared in front of him, but will Tudor be able to control things during the rest of the race?


Stage 3: Sterzing-Ratschings/Vipiteno-Racines - Innichen/San Candido, 145 km, aka In the Pedal Strokes of Mayomaniac

!!!Please note that the stage is expected to finish about an hour earlier than the first two stages (so between 14 and 14:30 local time)!!!

The peloton will ride in a southeast direction after the start in Sterzing/Vipiteno. A 6.5 km uphill drag through tunnels and across bridges will bring the riders to Longega/Zwischenwasser where the next mountain awaits. The climb to slightly below Untermoi/Antermoia is not an easy one, with the first 4 km averaging over 10%.

After a very short descent, it goes uphill again for the 2.5 km depicted as downhill on the profile below, which is then followed by the descent to Piccolein/Piccolino, where you probably don't want to sit right behind Felix Gall if it can be avoided.

The riders will then ride back through Longega/Zwischenwasser to start the next climb, the Furkelpass/Passo Furcia, which was used as the last climb when Lennard Kämna won in Niederdorf/Villabassa in 2022. One can only hope he'll have good sensations again tomorrow.

The climb is also known for how it links up with the road to Kronplatz/Plan de Corones, which was supposed to have been ridden in full in the 2006 Giro, but has so far only been used for the MTTs in 2008 and 10. The altered 2006 stage finished at Furcia instead, where Robo Basso handed the win to Leonardo Piepoli.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8DJoZS09w


As you can see on the climb profile, it really kicks off about halfway through with sections above 10%, but there are still 55 km left from the top, which include about 30 km of valley roads. The 10 km descent averages over 7% and reaches 14% at its worst, so you probably don't want to be on Felix Gall's wheel there.

The route continues east where the finish line in Innichen/San Candido will be crossed for the first time with 21 km left. 5 km later, the final climb over Jaufenstraße/Via Jaufen to Vierschachberg/Monte Versciaco starts. It's not too different from the climb we saw on stage 2, but the hardest part comes near the bottom rather than closer to the top.

There's a bit of false flat after the top before the descent kicks in with 5.5 km to go. As Mayomaniac explained earlier in the thread, the original finish was even trickier, but this one is not easy either. 3 km downhill at around 10% all the way (18% max.), through some corners and bends, could make it possible for someone to create a gap before the last 2 flat km to the line. Felix Gall will probably want to be ahead solo after the climb.

 

[RedheadDane]

Why do they finish these stages so early (about 1530)? I thought Italians didn’t eat dinner until around 8:00, so what’s the rush?

I think this is the one with not a lot of - if any - alternative routes for people to get home from work.
Apparently nobody considered just giving people the day off...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Michael Storer took full advantage of AG2R's questionable tactics and the Pantani-esque slipstream that suddenly appeared in front of him, but will Tudor be able to control things during the rest of the race?


Stage 3: Sterzing-Ratschings/Vipiteno-Racines - Innichen/San Candido, 145 km, aka In the Pedal Strokes of Mayomaniac

!!!Please note that the stage is expected to finish about an hour earlier than the first two stages (so between 14 and 14:30 local time)!!!

The peloton will ride in a southeast direction after the start in Sterzing/Vipiteno. A 6.5 km uphill drag through tunnels and across bridges will bring the riders to Longega/Zwischenwasser where the next mountain awaits. The climb to slightly below Untermoi/Antermoia is not an easy one, with the first 4 km averaging over 10%.

After a very short descent, it goes uphill again for the 2.5 km depicted as downhill on the profile below, which is then followed by the descent to Piccolein/Piccolino, where you probably don't want to sit right behind Felix Gall if it can be avoided.

The riders will then ride back through Longega/Zwischenwasser to start the next climb, the Furkelpass/Passo Furcia, which was used as the last climb when Lennard Kämna won in Niederdorf/Villabassa in 2022. One can only hope he'll have good sensations again tomorrow.

The climb is also known for how it links up with the road to Kronplatz/Plan de Corones, which was supposed to have been ridden in full in the 2006 Giro, but has so far only been used for the MTTs in 2008 and 10. The altered 2006 stage finished at Furcia instead, where Robo Basso handed the win to Leonardo Piepoli.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8DJoZS09w


As you can see on the climb profile, it really kicks off about halfway through with sections above 10%, but there are still 55 km left from the top, which include about 30 km of valley roads. The 10 km descent averages over 7% and reaches 14% at its worst, so you probably don't want to be on Felix Gall's wheel there.

The route continues east where the finish line in Innichen/San Candido will be crossed for the first time with 21 km left. 5 km later, the final climb over Jaufenstraße/Via Jaufen to Vierschachberg/Monte Versciaco starts. It's not too different from the climb we saw on stage 2, but the hardest part comes near the bottom rather than closer to the top.

There's a bit of false flat after the top before the descent kicks in with 5.5 km to go. As Mayomaniac explained earlier in the thread, the original finish was even trickier, but this one is not easy either. 3 km downhill at around 10% all the way (18% max.), through some corners and bends, could make it possible for someone to create a gap before the last 2 flat km to the line. Felix Gall will probably want to be ahead solo after the climb.

Nice: Fun fact, the final downhill section (with 22% ramps) is right next to a field that my family owns. Also overall only the 3rd steepest murito that starts in my hometown.

 

[KZD]

Storer with a great performance but the motorbikes gave him a helping hand too.

Seixas very strong once again.

 

[hayneplane]

Watched a bit of the replay, that Seixas x Gall duo has potential to provide some great comedy in the coming years.

Gall is going to have to nail it this year or Decathlon as a French team are going to be all in on backing Seixas and the the way he is shaping up.

 

[hayneplane]

Storer is a real throwback rider and on his day I would contend that he is the best pure climber in the world (clearly still behind Pogacar and Vingegaard) and able to win from the GC group when on a magic day.

Can’t TT and consistency is an issue so doubtful he could ever top 5 a Grand Tour.

 

[Sciatic]

I think this is the one with not a lot of - if any - alternative routes for people to get home from work.
Apparently nobody considered just giving people the day off...

Good to know. It’s probably okay they didn’t bother to take into account the all of 5 or so viewers (judging from this forum) on the US. West coast 🤪

 

[Cookster15]

Michael Storer took full advantage of AG2R's questionable tactics and the Pantani-esque slipstream that suddenly appeared in front of him, but will Tudor be able to control things during the rest of the race?

I still haven't found the conclusive video of Marco's AdH record setting feats when he was allegedly getting towed by motos.

As for Storer's win, looked at the video twice and the moto was only in drafting range on one hairpin but quickly sped out of range. Meanwhile the chasing group got more draft off each other.

 

[awavey]

I do love when sponsors get it, with stuff like this

100% on Instagram: "This one’s on us, @LidlTrek. Never stop celebrating, @Ciccone_Giulio 😎 #Ride100Percent #Cycling #Trek #Team #Celebrate #Vision #Bike #SeeMoreofWhatMatters"

6,140 likes, 115 comments - ride100percent on April 22, 2025: "This one’s on us, @LidlTrek. Never stop celebrating, @Ciccone_Giulio 😎 #Ride100Percent #Cycling #Trek #Team #Celebrate #Vision #Bike #SeeMoreofWhatMatters".

www.instagram.com

 

[Red Rick]

Nice: Fun fact, the final downhill section (with 22% ramps) is right next to a field that my family owns. Also overall only the 3rd steepest murito that starts in my hometown.

I am fully expecting Petulant Whiners United representation tomorrow

 

[Rockestar_33]

Happy for Storer, always good to Aussies winning. He'll be top 10 in the Giro IMO