Tour of the Alps reveals that Giro contenders are on form
Thibaut Pinot earns first French title since 1997
If the 2.HC-rated Tour of the Alps (once the Giro del Trentino) revealed anything, it was that there’s not much to separate the main Giro d’Italia contenders with two weeks to go before the first Grand Tour of the season. On Friday, Groupama-FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot wrapped up his first Tour of the Alps title, while Bahrain-Merida’s Ukrainian Mark Padun took the last stage win in Innsbruck, Austria.
? Mark PADUN is the winner of the last stage of @Tourof_TheAlps ?
Congratulations!#TotA pic.twitter.com/zztMGq4rXe
— Tour of The Alps (@Tourof_TheAlps) April 20, 2018
After five stages only 1:19 separated Pinot from (in order on GC) Domenico Pozzovivo, Stage 2 winner Angel Lopez, Chris Froome, George Bennett and Fabio Aru. From Thursday’s penultimate stage, Bennett gained 10-seconds and two spots and Aru lost 29-seconds and one position. All six are Giro favourites; reigning champ Tom Dumoulin and contenders Esteban Chaves, Simon Yates and Michael Woods skipped the ToA and the Tour de Romandie.
Fourth place in the 2017 Giro, Pinot was very aggressive in the Tour of Alps, the race leader attacking late in Friday’s stage with Pozzovivo and Lopez. The trio was caught by Froome just before the line.
Lopez’s Astana squad was stellar, winning three of the five stages. All three stage winners–Lopez, Pello Bilbao and LL Sanchez–will be at the Giro. Astana also placed three riders in the final top-10 on GC, with Sanchez seventh and Jan Hirt, third on Friday’s stage, 10th.
The 101st Giro d’Italia kicks off on May 4 in Jerusalem with a 9.7-km time trial.
