The 46th edition of the Tour of the Alps (formerly the Giro del Trentino) finished on Friday afternoonamongst the still-snowy peaks of the Dolomites. Jack Haig secured an 8th overall podium of the season for Team Bahrain Victorious as he consolidated his 3rd place overall when the peloton crossed the line in Brunico.

The day had started with a nervous peloton keeping various attempted breakaways at bay, with the GC still close. In the end the stage was won by Simon Carr (Education First) from the break that did eventually stick. Edoardo Zambanini spent 2 hours of his 22nd birthday with the escapees, but in the end our young Italian couldn’t stay with the strongest of the group.

For Haig, it was a satisfactory end to his last competitive preparation for the first Grand Tour of the season:

“I’m super happy. The day was relatively straightforward. Ineos controlled all day, and they had such a strong team here that it was quite hard to do anything against them. We’ve ridden well here all week, including Santi and me, which is a good sign for the Giro next month.”

The main group came in 4’28” down on Carr, whose decisive attack came at the foot of the Muhlbach climb, and included the top 2 overall, Tao Geoghegan Hart (IGD) and Hugh Carthy (EFE). Both of those riders are likely to line up on Italy’s eastern coast for the Grande Partenza.

Gorazd Štangelj, lead Sports Director for the Alps and the Giro, was happy with how the race turned out for the team.

“We are happy that we controlled the GC situation and the podium. We were hoping for Zamba to bring home a result and he tried, which is good for morale. The priority was to get some racing under their belts for Jack and Santiago [Buitrago] after altitude camp. We didn’t know how Jack’s form was, and you never know after training at altitude for a long time, so we’re happy with what we achieved. 

Santi also had a good result [8th overall], so things are looking good for the Giro. This is just part of the team for the Giro; the other part will be in Romandie, but from these guys, we’re in a good place for the Giro d’Italia”

The Tour of Romandie runs from April 25th-30th, and the Giro d’Italia starts in two weeks time, with a time trial in Abruzzo on May 6th.