Giulio Pellizzari had said it just a few weeks before the start of the 49th Tour of the Alps in Innsbruck: “It’s the race that made me realise I could be a top-level rider. The Tour of the Alps is the quintessential climbers’ race, and I am coming back to win it.” He’s done it: on Friday, April 24th in Bozen/Bolzano, the 22-year-old from Camerino took his second stage win of this TotA, and defended, all the way to the end, the Melinda Green Jersey he had claimed with his first victory in Martell/Val Martello. This from a rider who, before this week, had just one win as an outright protagonist to his name, and never an overall victory in a stage race at any level: but at the Tour of the Alps, something has changed. Or perhaps everything has – only time will tell.
What’s certain is that Italy is smiling again at the Tour of the Alps 13 years after Vincenzo Nibali (when the race was still called the Giro del Trentino), and for the first time since the race took on its new Euroregional identity. And it did so in the edition that closes the first ten-year cycle of the partnership between Tirol, Südtirol/Alto Adige and Trentino.
At the Bozen/Bolzano finish, Bernal came in second at 30”, taking the sprint ahead of Storer and Arensman. Further back, Jakob Omrzel, Ben O’Connor, Chris Harper and Mathys Rondel, all at 1’20”. Further still, Alexandr Vlasov and Derek Gee, at 2’29”.
In the overall classification, Pellizzari – also winner of the FORST White Jersey for best young rider – finished 40” ahead of Bernal and 50” ahead of Arensman. Just off the podium, Storer at 1’09”, followed by Rondel (1’45”) and Omrzel (1’55”).