Tour of the Alps 2026 stage 3 preview, profiles, favourites & predictions - Roller-coaster day can turn GC on its head

From the 20th to the 24th of April the riders will take on the Tour of the Alps. This is often used as the ultimate preparation race towards the Tour of the Alps, whilst in itself it is a very prestigious race with plenty high mountains and its international course, often crossing borders. We preview stage 3, which is expected to start and finish at 10:00 and 14:20CET.

The race was created in 1962 and initially won by Enzo Moser. However there was a long break and in 1980 the race finally picked up speed. Some big Italian names conquered the days-long stage-race. The race, due to its position in the calendar, was a match made in heaven for the Giro contenders and plenty have won it. Only in the last decades the likes of Paolo Savoldelli, Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, Vincenzo Nibali, Ivan Basso, Michele Scarponi and Domenico Pozzovivo all won the former 'Giro del Trentino'.

The last Italian win was in 2013 however. Ever since there has been more international list of winners, of great quality. Cadel Evans, Richie Porte, Mikel Landa, Geraint Thomas, Thibau Pinot, Pavel Sivakov, Simon Yates, Romain Bardet, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Juan Pedro López and most recently Michael Storer took the overall wins. Storer won last year after five brutal days of racing with plenty big changes due to his battle with Thymen Arensman.

The third day of racing is brutal and can lead to the standings changing completely. The beginning is downhill however early on there is the Passo Castin on the route, 22.4 kilometers at 5.7% however it is a climb with two descents in the middle.

It features 7 kilometers at 9% close to its summit and the rest of the stage is either up or downhill, making it hard to chase attackers. The riders climb to Andalo (14.4Km; 5%; 65Km to go); Passo del Balino (9.7Km; 3.7%; 30Km to go); and the final hilltop to Ville del Monte (4.4Km; 4.4%) which ends with 16 kilometers to go. Most of the way to Arco is downhill, capping off a stage with 3600 meters of climbing.

*** Aleksandr Vlasov, Giulio Pellizzari

** Lorenzo Finn, Egan Bernal, Thymen Arensman

* Michael Storer, Mathys Rondel, Chris Harper, Ben O'Connor, Matteo Sobrero, Tom Pidcock

Pick: Aleksandr Vlasov

How: Small peloton sprint.