Tour of the Alps 2024 (April 15 - 19)

[Devil's Elbow]

Whisper it... this might actually be the best route this race has had. And with Ineos having sent a weak team, it might even be raced.

Startlist

Overview

Day	Stage	Distance (km)	Star rating	Starts at	Broadcast starts at	ETA
Monday, April 15	1	133.3	***	12:00	13:40	15:08 - 15:27
Tuesday, April 16	2	190.7	**	10:35	13:35	15:04 - 15:32
Wednesday, April 17	3	124.8	***	11:15	12:35	14:12 - 14:30
Thursday, April 18	4	141.3	****	11:20	13:35	15:02 - 15:28
Friday, April 19	5	118.6	***	12:20	13:35	15:08 - 15:26

Official stage recons, with Daniel Oss:

The route
Stage 1: Neumarkt / Egna - Kurtinig a.d.W. / Cortina ssdV, 133.3k
The race kicks off with a stage through the wine country centred around a deceptively-hard climb. Unfortunately, they've made the flat after the final descent twice as long as it needed to be to get to the finish, but we could still see GC action.

Also, the final climb isn't categorised - get used to that, this race traditionally makes RCS climb categorisations seem sensible.

Spoiler: Climbs

Andalo:

Penon/Penone:

Stage 2: Salurn / Salorno - Stans, 190.7k
Long (by the standards of this race) transitional stage from the southern edge of Südtirol to the other side of the Alps and into the Inn valley. Again, it's a day that may or may not be a GC day.

Spoiler: Climbs

Brenner / Brennero:

Gnadenwald:

Stage 3: Schwaz - Schwaz, 124.8k
Now it's time for the stages I'm legitimately excited about. This part of the Inn valley in particular is littered with steep climbs between two and six kilometres in length; we got a sample last year on the opening stage, but today we go full Basque mode.

Spoiler: Climbs

Weerberg (only the first 3 kilometres):

Pillberg:

Stage 4: Leifers / Laives - Borgo Valsugana, 141,3k
We head back into Italy for the undisputed queen stage. It has the potential to be an absolute cracker, but will the big guns go for it?

Spoiler: Climbs

Passo di San Lugano:

Passo di Redebus (including the preceding wall to Sveseri):

Passo del Compet (only the section from km 12.5 to km 1.7):

Passo del Vetriolo (only the final 9.5k, i.e. starting with the 14% section):

Col San Marco:

Stage 5: Levico Terme - Levico Terme, 118.6k
The final stage is not one of the hardest of the race, but depending on the GC situation it does have the potential to be a banana skin.

Spoiler: Climbs

Palù del Fersina / Palai en Bersntol*:

Colle di Tenna:

*if they're going to put bilingual names for everything in Südtirol, they really should also do so for the parts of Trentino with an officially-recognised language that isn't Italian...

 

[Escarabajo]

Nice route IMHO. At least we will have great sceneries!

 

[Izzyeviel]

Will we get the Giro GC G, or the Vuelta GC G? That is thy question.

 

[tobydawq]

Ben O'Connor to win and RhD to whine about the finishing times.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Ben O'Connor to win and RhD to whine about the finishing times.

One of those things will definitely happen.

I hope Higuita will bounce back in this race.

 

[hayneplane]

Only in Italy could you have climbs of 15kms at over 5% and 7kms at 6% be uncategorised. That will be a brutal shock to anyone who hasn’t taken notice of the road book.

 

[Escarabajo]

Only in Italy could you have climbs of 15kms at over 5% and 7kms at 6% be uncategorised. That will be a brutal shock to anyone who hasn’t taken notice of the road book.

4.5 km @ 8.9% uncategorized. Itzulia would be jealous!

 

[Escarabajo]

After looking at the routes for a second time, half of the climbs do not have category. Those climbs deserve categorization, so I don't know what is the deal with it.

 

[topcat]

Is Roglic afraid of this race also?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Good route, Thomas likely wont feature just yet like last year. Hugh should be good though.

Piganzoli has a good chance at a result here, was a bit perplexed that a WT team didn't pick him up after Avenir, I think him or Double will take a stage at the GIro.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Pretty great route, even if the west and east of Südtirol + Osttirol and the west of Nordtirol are missing.
I can see why Gall won't show up this year, they won't come closer than 70kms to his hometown.

Stage 3 and 4 are my favourite ones.

 

[stetre76]

Nice route IMHO. At least we will have great sceneries!

Well, we'll see about that...

Unfortunately the weather is predicted to be really bad here in Tyrol the next couple of days.

Yesterday it was 30.7°C here in Innsbruck - for Wednesday and Thursday they predict snow at around 800m >>> so this could affect Brenne but also Weerberg and Piller Berg (if the weather is really bad).

Let's hope for the best, but be prepared to experienve the worst

 

[RedheadDane]

Ben O'Connor to win and RhD to whine about the finishing times.

Well, it is silly. But maybe the local population insisted the roads had to be clear before they head home from work.
What I really dislike is a race randomly finishing early as to not "clash" with another race. Another race in a completely different country.
Like, why are they finishing even earlier Wednesday? Please tell me it's not so "they won't clash" with Flech Wallonne. They literally can't, unless they get terribly lost.

Yesterday it was 30.7°C here in Innsbruck

That's insane for Europe in April!

 

[Mayomaniac]

Well, it is silly. But maybe the local population insisted the roads had to be clear before they head home from work.
What I really dislike is a race randomly finishing early as to not "clash" with another race. Another race in a completely different country.
Like, why are they finishing even earlier Wednesday? Please tell me it's not so "they won't clash" with Flech Wallonne. They literally can't, unless they get terribly lost.



That's insane for Europe in April!

That's the main reasoning. They often finish in lateral valleys (not so much this year)where there aren't any real alternative roads, so they finish earlier so that the people can get back home from work like usual.

Also 30 degrees in Bozen, but now it gets colder. Tomorrow they might face 3 degrees and a bit of rain on the Brenner.

 

[tobydawq]

That's the main reasoning. They often finish in lateral valleys (not so much this year)where there aren't any real alternative roads, so they finish earlier so that the people can get back home from work like usual.

Silly, she told you!

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Broken clock detected.

 

[search]

Like, why are they finishing even earlier Wednesday? Please tell me it's not so "they won't clash" with Flech Wallonne. They literally can't, unless they get terribly lost.

of course it's not to clash with Fleche, and it totally makes sense. You may be watching a stream and/or a re-live anyway, but that's not the audience anyone targets. If it clashes with a bigger race, "no one" will watch it.

 

[tobydawq]

of course it's not to clash with Fleche, and it totally makes sense. You may be watching a stream and/or a re-live anyway, but that's not the audience anyone targets. If it clashes with a bigger race, "no one" will watch it.

It's a complete waste of time to argue with her about that.

 

[RedheadDane]

of course it's not to clash with Fleche, and it totally makes sense. You may be watching a stream and/or a re-live anyway, but that's not the audience anyone targets. If it clashes with a bigger race, "no one" will watch it.

It's weird how people seem to think you can only watch one race at a time...

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Ben O'Connor to win and RhD to whine about the finishing times.

I don't understand the whining about finishing times. I've managed to see the finishes of about 5 races in total so far this season. Part of being a true dedicated cycling fan is providing extensive online analysise on races that you haven't watched yet.

 

[Rob5091]

For those who like to read all the info etc (clicky for) 2024 RoadBook for the race. And as an added bonus there's a Technical Guide 2024 (clicky) with all the "hotspots" which means pinch points, roundabouts etc.

Yep, the weather forecasts don't seem very promising, but it is April in the Tyrol so it's to be expected.

 

[AmRacer]

It's weird how people seem to think you can only watch one race at a time...

People normally watch only one race at the time.

 

[Lui98]

I don't understand the whining about finishing times. I've managed to see the finishes of about 5 races in total so far this season. Part of being a true dedicated cycling fan is providing extensive online analysise on races that you haven't watched yet.

Exactly. Just like Stephen A. Smith does when talking about the Knicks

 

[RedheadDane]

People normally watch only one race at the time.

Are you sure that isn't mostly because people are still stuck in the old way of TV (ie, Eurosport) only showing one race at a time because they also have to show silly sports like tennis?

 

[search]

Are you sure that isn't mostly because people are still stuck in the old way of TV (ie, Eurosport) only showing one race at a time because they also have to show silly sports like tennis?

not sure they are "stuck" to it, TV is just the way most people watch live sports. When there's tennis, then they watch tennis instead