Jakob Omrzel, the 20-year-old Slovenian rider, returns to racing at the Tour of the Alps following his appearance at GP Indurain, leading a young Bahrain Victorious line-up into the five-stage race from April 20 to 24 across Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino. Held in the heart of the Alps, the race consistently delivers demanding mountain terrain despite its changing route each year.
Supporting Omrzel is a young squad of Roman Ermakov, Max van der Meulen, Oliver Stockwell, Kasper Borremans and Bálint Feldhoffer. Kasper Borremans and Bálint Feldhoffer step up from the development team, while Rainer Kepplinger rounds off the squad as the oldest member of the line-up.
The opening stage (144.3km) starts and finishes in Innsbruck and features two key climbs (6.2km at 3.7% and 4km at 7%). Stage two (147.5km) from Telfs to Martell introduces longer ascents, including Pillerhöhe (9.2km at 6%) and the gradual climb of Passo Resia (15.8km at 3.4%).
Stage three (175.1km) from Latsch to Arco on the shores of Lake Garda tackles Passo Castrin (22.2km at 5.7%), the highest point of the race at 1,586 metres, before the climb to Andalo (14.4km at 5.4%).
Stage four is the queen stage, covering 167.8km from Arco to Trento with 3,600 metres of elevation gain. It features the demanding Passo Bordala (14.8km at 6.9%) and another first-category climb of 12.9km at 6.8%.
The final stage (128.6km) from Trento to Bolzano remains decisive, with late climbs of 4.4km at 6.6% and 9.2km at 6.2% before a fast descent to the finish.
Sports Director Franco Pellizotti said:
“We have a young team at this race, and Jakob is our leader. All the riders will have 100% commitment to help Jakob. I believe that we will achieve the best result with Jakob. Our goal is to be in the top 8 in the general classification, but I believe he can even be closer to the top 5. We have Roman, Rainer and Oliver arriving from the Tour of Basque. They are a little bit tired, but I think this week they recovered a little bit and are for sure ready to support Jakob. Then we have two guys from the development team, Bálint and Kasper. They are also riding today in the De Brabantse Pijl, and I expect a lot of commitment from them. And then we have Max, who is coming back from the injury which he got in Australia. This will be the first race for him, he is stil not 100 percent, but for sure he will start the new season very well. I believe that all 6 riders will give maximum support to Jakob, and from Jakob, I expect a good race. There are two strong teams there, Red Bull with Pellizzari, who was also a leader at the Giro, and for sure he will win this race and also Tudor with Storer, the winner of last year. Jakob needs to follow these guys, and I believe he will get a good place in the general classification.”
Team leader Jakob Omrzel added:
“I’m very excited to be at the start of the Tour of the Alps. Since the beginning of the season, I haven’t been very lucky with my preparations, but I’ve managed to put in some quality hours on the bike, and I’m starting to feel like myself again. A race like this gives me a lot of motivation, and at the same time, I feel really happy and grateful to compete in races like this with our team.”
