PREVIEW | Tour of the Alps 2024 stage 4 - Juan Pedro López to defend lead in horrifically hard mountain stage

From April 15th to 19th, the Tour of the Alps takes center stage as the pivotal prelude to the Giro d'Italia. Over five days of racing amidst the awe-inspiring Alps, this event serves as the ultimate preparatory challenge for riders. Here, we offer a preview of the race ahead.

The queen stage of the race. This 141-kilometer day between Laives and Borgo Valsugana is a brutal day by the standards of any race, and would be a top Grand Tour stage if it were presented in one. There are over 4200 meters of climbing within this short day of racing, split into six different climbs.

15.2Km at 5.7% almost right from the start. Then two transition ascents which are 2.9Km at 9.2% and 4.5Km at 8.9%. Both hard, but a mere warm-up for the two most important moments of the day.

The Passo del Compet (10.2Km at 8.1%) summits with 55Km to go and the end of the descent is the base of the Passo del Vetriolo which is 9.3Km at 8.7% and summits with 37Km to go. If that were not enough there is still one more climb before the finale, which is an uncategorized 5.3Km climb at over 7% which is placed only a few kilometers away from the downhill finale.

*** Antonio Tiberi, Ben O'Connor, Tobias Foss
** Juan Pedro López, Romain Bardet, Wout Poels
* Giulio Pellizzari, Geraint Thomas, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Iván Sosa, Michael Storer

Pick: Antonio Tiberi