Tour of the Alps 2026 stage 4 preview, profiles, favourites & predictions - Will INEOS dare to destroy BORA and Giulio Pellizzari on brutal stage?

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 4, which is expected to start and finish at 10:45 and 15:15CET.

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 queen stage? Potentially. The riders depart from Arco where they've finished the day before and right from the gun they take on the Passo Bordala which is 14.8 kilometers long at 6.9%. It is a very hard climb but it is followed by two others...

The Vicolo Vattaro (8.4Km; 6.7%) and Passo Redebus (13Km; 6.7%) are each hard enough for big moves and by the time the riders crown it, they will only have ridden half of the stage.

The 167-kilometer long day then doesn't have any other categorized climb, but by no means no climbing. There are several ascents on the way down to Trento, much more explosive, but where attacks can still happen - whilst if the attacks come early on, they can be solidified.

*** Giulio Pellizzari, Thymen Arensman

** Egan Bernal, Aleksandr Vlasov

* Michael Storer, Mathys Rondel, Florian Stork, Chris Harper, Tom Pidcock, Tommaso Dati, Ben O'Connor, Tobias Foss

Pick: Giulio Pellizzari

How: Small group sprint.