Tour of the Alps sees pink with eight World Teams
In Brixen/Bressanone the twenty-team list was announced, with a significant share of World Tour outfits: Nibali, Bardet, Fuglsang, and Carapaz among those expected to offer a grand show in the Euregio from April 20th to 24th, 2020, on the road to the Giro d'Italia
What the first announcement in Milan in October had suggested, Brixen/Bressanone has confirmed in full: the Tour of the Alps has another outstanding edition in store from April 20th to 24th 2020, as expectations rocketed sky-high after organizing company GS Alto Garda has presented the list of the teams to take the start of the UCI Pro Series event.
The Tour of the Alps’ DNA is made of short and intense stages in an exciting crescendo – in compliance with the #LiveUphill payoff – where champions like Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali managed to shine, and the likes of Geraint Thomas (2017), Thibaut Pinot (2018) and rising star Pavel Sivakov (2019) secured the overall glory in the first three years of the new project. Once again, a number of top-notch contenders are to line up for the 2020 crown.
The presence of eight UCI World Tour Teams confirms the Tour of the Alps’ positioning as an exciting and enticing race, as well as a crucial dress rehearsal ahead of the Giro d’Italia. As usual in the recent years, Team INEOS will be present after winning the competition multiple times under the name of Team Sky, including last year’s edition with Pavel Sivakov. It is not clear yet whether the Russian will take part in the Euroregional race to defend his title. Still, everything suggests that the winner of the last Giro d’Italia, Richard Carapaz, could pass through the Tour of the Alps to launch another assault to Pink, aiming for a back-to-back that the Corsa Rosa has not seen since the Indurain era.
New team, but similar calendar for Vincenzo Nibali. Vincenzo will be Trek-Segafredo‘s leader at the start from Brixen/Bressanone after the great show given last year and the numerous victories achieved at the Giro del Trentino. Romain Bardet has already announced the Tour of the Alps as part of his roadmap to his Giro d’Italia debut with Ag2r La Mondiale, as did Pole Rafal Majka of Bora-hansgrohe – among the top riders also in 2019 – and Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Jakob Fuglsang, the GC captain for Astana at the Giro d’Italia.
Completing the picture of the World Tour teams are the CCC Team, whose leader could be either Russian Ilnur Zakarin or Italian Fausto Masnada, winner of two stages at 2019 #TotA, the UAE Team Emirates which will count on Valerio Conti and young talent Andres Camilo Ardila, winner of the last Giro U23, and the renewed Team Bahrain-McLaren, always very competitive in the Euregio’s roads.
Adding to an exciting and high-level show are nine Pro Continental’s teams. Three Italians teams, Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè, and Vini Zabù-KTM, are going to look to leave a mark after securing a Giro d’Italia Wild Card berth. Many challenging ascents are waiting for the climbers of Caja Rural Seguros-RGA and Fundacion Euskadi, as well as Pierre Rolland and Tom-Jelte Slagter of B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM, one of the invited teams to the next Tour de France. The young Norwegians of Uno-X Norwegian Development Team will have a good chance to show their talent, together with the French Nippo Delko One Provence and Russian Gazprom-RusVelo.
Two Austrian Continental teams will also enter the mix, Tirol KTM Cycling Team, and Team Felbermayr Simplon Wels, together with the Italian National Team, for a total of 20 teams and 140 riders.
Tour of the Alps has announced the list of the teams for the 2020 edition on Thursday, January 30th, in the press conference at Sala Egger of Brixen/Bressanone, the city where the Euro regional race will experience its big start on April 19th. Taking part in the presentation, together with GS Alto Garda President Giacomo Santini and Tour of the Alps’ General Manager Maurizio Evangelista, also Brixen/Bressanone mayor Peter Brunner, Brixen/Bressanone’s Tourist Board Director Werner Zanotti, Naturns/Naturno’s Tourist Board Director Uli Stampfer, Italian Cycling Federation’s Sūdtirol Committee President Nino Lazzarotto and cyclist Elena Pirrone, one of the three patronesses of this 44th edition of the event.
The 20 teams of the 2020 edition of Tour of the Alps:
WORLD TEAMS
Ag2R La Mondiale (France)
Astana Pro Team (Kazakhstan)
Bahrain – McLaren (Bahrain)
Bora – Hansgrohe (Germany)
CCC Team (Poland)
Team INEOS (United Kingdom)
Trek – Segafredo (Stati Uniti)
UAE Team Emirates (United Arab Emirates)
PRO CONTINENTAL
Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec (Italy)
B&B Hotels – Vital Concept p/b KTM (France)
Bardiani CSF Faizanè (Italy)
Caja Rural Seguros RGA (Spain)
Fundacion Euskadi (Spain)
Gazprom – RusVelo (Russia)
Nippo Delko One Provence (Francia)
Uno-X Norwegian Development Team (Norway)
Vini Zabù-KTM (Italy)
CONTINENTAL
Team Felbermayr Simplon Wels (Austria)
Tirol KTM Cycling Team (Austria)
SQUADRE NAZIONALI
Italy
For the first time after three years, Südtirol will host the start of the 2020 edition: Brixen/Bressanone will raise the curtains on Sunday, April 19th, for the preliminary operations and teams’ presentation in the beautiful Piazza Duomo. The race will start from the main square on Monday, April 20th with stage 1, ending up in Innsbruck after 142,8 km.
Tour of the Alps will then come back to Südtirol to end the third stage (Wednesday, April 22nd) in Naturns/Naturno, after the start in Imst, Tyrol, west of Innsbruck, for an overall distance of 158,7 km. After the ascent to the Reisenpass/Passo Resia, and the raw and tiny roads through the Vintschgau Valley/Val Venosta toward Frinig, ending with the Tarsch/Tarres climb (with 18 km to go) likely to make out for a very open stage finale.
Stage 4, on Thursday, April 23rd, features the longest mileage (168,6 km) and the most significant elevation gain (3380mt) of this edition: Naturns/Naturno – Valle del Chiese/Pieve di Bono. Right after the start, the peloton will rise to 1706mt towards Passo Castrin: the highest point of the 2020 Tour of the Alps.
THE STAGES
Tour of the Alps unveiled their five stages of the 44th edition in a press conference in Milan last October. Brixen/Bressanone will open the race, the hosting city of the Mountain Bike Testival from September 17th to 20th, welcoming 60 cycling brands to present their 2021 collections with free testing offered to the public.
Monday, April 20th: Brixen/Bressanone – Innsbruck, 142,8 Km
Elevation gain: 1950 m. Difficulty: **
Tuesday, April 21st: Innsbruck – Feichten im Kaunertal, 121,5 Km
Elevation gain: 2640 m. Difficulty: ***
Wednesday, April 22nd: Imst – Naturns/Naturno, 158,7 Km
Elevation gain: 2290 m. Difficulty: ***
Thursday, April 23rd: Naturns/Naturno – Valle del Chiese/Pieve di Bono, 168,6 Km
Elevation gain: 3880 m. Difficulty: ****
Friday, April 24th: Valle del Chiese/Idroland – Riva del Garda, 120,9 Km
Elevation gain: 2230 m. Difficulty: ***
