The Alps are getting very busy. The skiing season is mostly done but bikes are taking over the heights in the heart of Europe, with the recently concluded Tour de Romandie, won by Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and the upcoming Giro d’Italia, running from the Costa dei Trabocchi to Roma, and passing by some of the area’s most iconic ascents, to crown a new king in Rosa over the next few weeks (May 6-28).
With the European Spring Classics campaign over, there is a change in both the profiles of the UCI WorldTour race - with lengthy battles over high summits – and the profiles of the stars rising to the forefront. Some riders are suited for every situation - reigning UCI World Champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) is a strong favorite for the Giro after winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the second year in a row - while others have skill sets more tuned to chasing glory in specific events.
From Ayuso to Yates: the battle of Romandie
Adam Yates, for example, is a special talent when the road rises for long ascents where only the strongest climbers can be in with a chance for victory. On Saturday, stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie led the peloton from Sion to Thyon 2000, a little more than 2,000m above the sea, atop a final ascent of 20.8km with an average gradient of 7.6%.
Juan Ayuso, another wonderkid of UAE Team Emirates, had been leading the overall standing after his victory in the individual time trial of Châtel-Saint-Denis the previous day. Then Yates dropped all his rivals - Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was the strongest among his chasers, trailing by 7’’ on the line - to take his second victory of the year, a couple of months after another successful flight, over the heights of Jebel Hafeet on the final stage of the UAE Tour (he finished third overall behind Evenepoel and Ineos Grenadiers’ Luke Plapp).
🎉👏 Double for Adam Yates at the @TourDeRomandie 🇨🇭.
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) April 29, 2023
💬 @AdamYates7 : “I am very happy. It was a really good performance from the team.”
Full report: https://t.co/9SUZlSyK3c#UAETeamEmirates #WeAreUAE #TDR2023 pic.twitter.com/X3IrF9iV8P
In Switzerland, Yates took the leader’s yellow jersey from his teammate Ayuso. And he kept it the next day, when Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) won the final stage of the Tour de Romandie in Geneva, the Briton sealing the overall victory, his third in a stage race of the UCI WorldTour after the 2020 UAE Tour and the 2021 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.
From Romandie to Italy: heading to the first Grand Tour
Such a success will boost his confidence towards his main target of the year, July’s Tour de France. The same goes for his runner-up Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team), as the 23-year-old American confirms he’s made a few steps forward following his first professional wins earlier this year in the Tour of Oman (stage 3 and the General Classification). He is now awaited on the roads of the Critérium du Dauphiné (June 4-11) ahead of the Tour (July 1-23).
Meanwhile, some of their closest rivals head to Italy, where they’ll start the year’s first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, this weekend in Fossacesia Marina. They will even return to Swiss heights, with a grueling day of climbing towards Crans-Montana (stage 13). A podium finisher in this Tour de Romandie (3rd), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) achieved the same feat in the Corsa Rosa (2nd in 2021) and is among the main contenders for the coming weeks in Italy, alongside Groupama-FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot (5th at the Tour de Romandie).
From Fossacesia Marina to Roma: dreams of Rosa
Two stage winners last week in Switzerland will also take on the Giro: Josef Cerny (Soudal-Quick Step) and Gaviria. They will quickly get their first opportunities to shine, with an opening individual time trial from Fossacesia Marina to Ortona (19.6km) on Saturday and a long mostly flat stage 2 from Teramo to San Salvo (202km) the next day.
Climbers such as Evenepoel, Caruso and Pinot - along with Jumbo-Visma’s Primož Roglič, Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart, and UAE Team Emirates’ João Almeida - will have to be attentive as they face some punchy courses in the first days of competition. A big showdown already awaits them on day 7 as they hit the slopes leading to Gran Sasso d’Italia. And the battle towards Roma will only be starting for the champions dreaming of the Maglia Rosa…