bernal back in top form.... so excited for the Giro!!!!!!!!!

Stage 5

The last nap of the week in Tyrol.

Sobrero (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek), 2^nd^ yesterday, didn't bother to start this morning.

Those who were trying to win something got in the breakaway which started after 30 km: Zangerle (🇦🇹 Voralrberg) and Jasch (🇩🇪 Tudor) for the Mountain jersey, Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) and JF Rodriguez (🇨🇴 EF) for a stage win. Dati (🇮🇹 Ukyo) had gone into a km-0 breakaway for the first sprint for Points jersey.

In the main climb, there was a long train pulled by Jayco, and then O'Connor🇦🇺 did nothing.

Then the train was pulled by Ineos, and then neither Bernal🇨🇴 not Arensman🇳🇱 did anything.

Then it was a faster Bora train, and Pellizzari🇮🇹 attacked/accelerated less than 3 km from the summit (or was it from the Time Bonus sprint which was a bit below?).

He didn't make a big difference, but riders were all solo for a while. Then Arensman🇳🇱 waited for Bernal🇨🇴 and they rode together, keeping the gap with italian small, until Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) joined them and Bernal🇨🇴 tried to go ahead. Then the Australian and the 2 Ineos rode more or less together until the end. They weren't collaborating at 100%, but they were close to their limit anyway. Pellizzari🇮🇹's advance grew from 10 to 20 second on the bumpy road after the summit, and then an extra 10 seconds at the end of the descent (Storer🇦🇺 was struggling in each curve).

And that was it. Nobody tried anything at any moment to disturb the rider in pole position.

Pellizzari🇮🇹 was a bit better than on stage #2, where he had attacked in similar way, but then was caught. One may think that, the other day, the slope remained as hard all along, while today, it got easier and that's what allowed him not to get caught, firstly, before he could enlarge his advance on even easier terrain.

Pozzovivo🇮🇹 was dropped rather early today (I reckon that recovery at age 43 is much more difficult), while Gee🇨🇦 was a bit better than on the first days.

The main change in GC is Storer🇦🇺's progression from 10^th^ to 4^th^ place, just past his teammate at Tudor Rondel🇫🇷.

Stage 2 (Tuesday)

So that was the only stage with a top finish. Well, almost a top finish, as there was still half-a-mile of descent and flat after, which was enough to change the scenario, allowing Vlasov (🇷🇺 Bora) to join the other 2 Boras at the front.

Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) wasn't lying when he said yesterday that he had no power. He lost 7 mn in 5 km, so I don't see the point of maintaining him in Liège–Bastogne–Liège this Sunday. The goal should just be to rebuild a level through a mix of resting, training and easy races without no performance expectation.

Pelizzari (🇮🇹 Bora) won, but he didn't impress me (I must confess he rarely did).

Firstly, it was a sprint with 3 Boras, 2 Ineos including Bernal🇨🇴 who had done a lot of chasing, and a Picnic who had been in the breakaway all day long, was a bit obstructed during the sprint and yet finished 3^rd^.

Secondly, when Pellizzari🇮🇹 attacked and joined this last breakaway survivor, Mattia Gaffuri🇮🇹, he never managed to drop this fellow who had 135 km of breakaway in the legs.

Pellizzari🇮🇹 may well win the race in the end, but today I'd rather mention other riders:

• this Mattia Gaffuri (🇮🇹 Picnic) I already talked about (I am afraid he will have to support all Picnic hopes, as all others are relatively far behind...);
• Lorenzo Finn (🇮🇹 Bora) who did the first significant attack and stayed with the first group then;
• Pozzovivo (🇮🇹 Solution Tech Nippo) pulled most of the time the chase group in the final climb, displaying a very honest level (at least compared to riders present here, the best of those climbers couldn't drop the breakaway man, as I explained, so the general level appears to be limited).

Semi-failure for Tudor who pulled the peloton for 40 km (?), and in the beginning of the final climb to catch most of the breakaway, reducing a gap which was of 4-5 minutes when other teams were leading the peloton. Storer🇦🇺 followed the first Finn🇮🇹 attack but had to let them go after a while. It was Rondel🇫🇷 who had to try to jump from Pozzovivo's group and join the first group, he may have achieved the junction if he hadn't been assassinated by Vlasov🇷🇺 near the top. Anyway, Rondel🇫🇷 is still in the game, he was only late by less than 10 seconds.

Jayco, thus O'connor🇦🇺 wasn't seen at all. Time-wise, the Australian only finished after 25 seconds, so it wasn't a total collapse, but he wasn't part of any fight at the top fronts. We can say goodbye to P. Double who is 8 minutes behind...

At Q36.5, C. Harper🇦🇺 (yet another Aussie!) had to step up, as Pidcock🇬🇧 is still in a recovery process. He was in Pozzovivo🇮🇹's group. It is still playable.

Lidl-Trek is recording a larger failure (another one this year...) as Gee🇨🇦 and Sobrero🇮🇹 finished at over 1 minute, and the young Jack Ward🇦🇺 (is this an invasion?) didn't confirm at all his very good performance at Liège–Bastogne–Liège (U23) 3 days ago, where he was the only rider able to follow Finn🇮🇹 in the main climb, finishing today at almost 3 minutes...

D. Bais (🇮🇹 Polti) was the second best in the breakaway, until he was dropped by Gaffuri🇮🇹.

Zangerle (🇦🇹 Vorarlberg), the last survivor of yesterday's breakaway, was again in the breakaway today! He was beaten on the two Mountain sprints, but still managed to score extra points, and will bear the jersey again tomorrow.

Nice landscapes of mountain valley under the spring sun 👍 😃

Stage 3

Race stopped after a few kilometres, for there was a mass crash at the front of the peloton just 100 metres after the real start!

8 riders didn't restart; amongst them, Lorenzo Finn (🇮🇹 Bora), 6^th^ in GC, wearer of the Youth Classification jersey (in place of his teammate Pellizzari🇮🇹 who still qualifies for this classification but also has the GC leader jersey).

Today anew, the peloton did not want to race.

The breakaway (S. OOmen (🇳🇱 Lidl-Trek) & Rafferty (🇮🇪 EF) was killed by the final flat section, but also by... the counter-attack of another EF (**J.F. Rodriguez🇨🇴) in the last climb before, which forced to Bora to accelerate as he wasn't so far in GC. He took 2 bonus seconds, and then... finished 1 mn behind the peloton. What a brilliant idea he had...

Pidcock🇬🇧 had his team pull for him. Well, 'pull' is a big world, it is not like it was going fast. A peloton of 40 riders arrived together. Same first two riders on the line as on the first day, in different order. It is hard to understand what Pidcock🇬🇧 is doing and how he truly is.

It looks like we are back, after an eventful 2025 edition, to those editions of the Tour of the Alps where nobody would attempt anything until the last or the 'queen' stage. In 3 days, there was only some fight one day (yesterday), partly because it was forced by a hard climb finish (5 km @ 9%) that sorted riders out whether they liked it or not.

Stage 4

Possibly the hardest one.

I'll copy-paste one more time what I already said the other days: the peloton did not want to race today either. We are definitely back to what this race used to be: a great terrain, but given to the most boring riders in existence (also called GT climbers).

So the breakaway won, with a rider who was already better in the climb to Brusago (45 km from the line), but waited for other breakaway men, until he went alone for good in the climb of Sant'Agnese (25 km from the line). This rider belongs to Tudor's development team, therefore a Conti team: Lennart Jasch🇩🇪. Congratulations to him.

In the peloton, we just had another little try by J.F. Rodriguez (🇨🇴 EF).

As far as Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) is concerned, in fact he has to ride like a sprinter: he's half-dropped in climbs, and then asks his team to push on flat & downhill sections to reduce gaps with breakaways, hoping for sprint in the end. That's optimising the results according to his current shape.

He tried to accelerate in the last little hump 10 km from the goal (probably as a test as well to close the gap with the leftovers of the breakaway), but that just woke up Pellizzari (🇮🇹 Bora) who attacked and was followed easily followed by all climbers, but not Pidcock🇬🇧 who was dropped right away. The whole manœuvre only resulted in Bernal (🇨🇴 Ineos) grabbing a 2-second time bonus.

In the end, 2 guys tried to get out the first group to catch L. Jasch🇩🇪: Sobrero (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) and Iacomoni (🇮🇹 Ukyo), the latter giving the impression to take harder relays. They failed but got on the stage podium as the peloton wasn't any better.

The race and Jasch🇩🇪's victory confirmed the profile: it was highly possible to attack in the Brusago climb (top at 45 km from the line) or the Sant-Agnese climb (25 km from the line), and not be easily caught afterwards, as it was a very long descent interspersed with small climbs/humps, which gave almost no space for a peloton or a team to organise a proper chase.

That's how the organiser designed and envisioned it. But with those riders, pfff... they will wait for the double climb of Montoppio in the second half of the stage tomorrow to decide the fate of the race, with no way to change it afterwards as it will be the last stage. This 2026 Tour of the Alps really takes us a couple of years backwards.

Stage 1 (Monday)

The peloton didn't intend to race today.

A Vorarlberg rider left at km 0, he was later (I don't know when but I suppose soon after) joined by a teammate and a guy from the Austrian selection. Nolde🇩🇪 was taking sprint points, his teammate Zangerle🇦🇹 the mountain points, and Dirnbauer🇦🇹 (Austria) was happy to be there. They rode together until the last climb, Nolde🇩🇪 working until the foot and giving up, and Dirnbauer🇦🇹 who had been struggling a lot wasn't waited any more by Zangerle🇦🇹 in the false-flat between the first summit of the climb and the last small climb with a time bonus. While Dirnbauer🇦🇹 was caught by the peloton soon after the time bonus sprint (the last 2 available were won by O'Connor (🇦🇺 Jayco), one inch before an EF who could have been Cepeda), Zangerle🇦🇹 put up a brave fight in the descent and on 15 of flat.

Jayco and other teams were leading the chase. There were replaced by Ineos as a roundabout taken on an opposite side sent Jayco 10 m back. Ineos pushed very strongly in the hump in a village streets, 5 km to the goal (the peloton almost rode over the poor breakaway survivor), and launched Arensman🇳🇱 at the top of that.

Arensman🇳🇱 was only caught in the last hundred metres.

No Jayco in the sprint top-5, but 2 Ukyo, including the stage winner Tommaso Dati🇮🇹!

Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) finishes 2^nd^, thus is already in position for GC.