Tour of the Alps 2024 - Stage 1: Time trial specialist Foss can also do it in a sprint

Premiere for Tobias Foss. With his victory on stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps (2.Pro), the Norwegian has won his first open race. Previously, the newcomer from Ineos Greandiers had only won national championships and the surprising victory in the 2022 Time Trial World Championships, which was his last success to date.

Quartet pulls away in the finale of stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps

Foss sprinted to victory from a group of four ahead of Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) and Esteban Chaves (EF Education EasyPost). The quartet had broken away from a slightly larger group around the overall victory candidates Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) a good kilometre before the finish, with Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) another contender making it to the front. The large group had built up their lead on the descent of the final climb around 15 kilometres before the finish in Kurtinig. The 133-kilometre section through South Tyrol started in Neumarkt.

With his victory, Foss not only took the overall lead but also the points leader's jersey. The first leader in the mountains classification is Mattia Bais (Polti-Kometa), who took all of the day's mountain points from the breakaway group. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) leads the junior classification, finishing three seconds behind Foss.

For the 26-year-old, the Tour of the Alps is only his second race this season, having started early in the year at the UAE Tour. "I knew I could sprint well and fast, not in a bunch sprint, but in a select group with mountain specialists," Foss is quoted as saying in a statement from the organisers. "Our goal today was to reach the final climb with Thomas and me in the leading group, and we did that. In the finale, Geraint advised me to try a fast attack, but O' Connor reacted immediately, then it was up to me to react to Chaves' acceleration. I stuck with the sprint solution and it went well."

>> Tour of the Alps 2024: route and TV broadcast

The top 10 of stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps

1. Tobias Foss (Ineos Greandiers) 3:17:06
2. Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
3. Esteban Chaves (EF Education EasyPost) +0:00
4. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:00
5. Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) +0:03
6. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:03
7. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:03
8. Amanuel Ghebraigzahbier (Lidl-Trek) +0:03
9. Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:03
10. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:03

The current overall standings

1. Tobias Foss (Ineos Greandiers) 3:16:56
2. Chris Harper (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:04
3. Esteban Chaves (EF Education EasyPost) +0:06
4. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:10
5. Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) +0:13
6. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:13
7. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:13
8. Amanuel Ghebraigzahbier (Lidl-Trek) +0:13
9. Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:13
10. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:13

How the 1st stage of the Tour of the Alps went

Three mountains confronted the peloton on the first day of the Tour of the Alps on otherwise flat terrain. The first, and at 15 kilometres the longest, ended in the village of Andalo near Trento. Seven riders had set off on the climb together, including Bais and Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling). Together with Bais' team-mate Garosio, the duo arrived at the top, the rest were left behind.

On the flat that followed the long descent, the trio Asier Etxeberria (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Kyrylo Tsarenko (Corratec-Vini Fantini) and the Japanese champion Masaki Yamamoto (JCL Team Ukyo) were able to catch up again. The resulting sextet had a lead of up to four minutes.

But this constellation did not last long. Shortly after the first finish after 80 kilometres in Kurtinig - two 26-kilometre laps remained to be ridden - the route climbed up to Penon, four and a half kilometres with an average gradient of more than nine per cent. Only the Polti-Kometa duo made it to the top.

Bais and Garosio shared the following mountain and sprint classifications, with Bais also taking the first two classifications on the climb to Andalo. They took around one and a half minutes into the final lap.

Preliminary decision is made on the downhill run

In the peloton, it was mainly Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Bora-Hansgrohe and Ineos Grenadiers who set the pace throughout the day. With 20 kilometres to go on the second climb to Penon, they had caught the leaders. There were no attacks up to the highest point, although Hugh Carthy (EF Education EsayPost) or Tiberi stepped up the pace again shortly before the end.

Around 25 riders made it over the mountain together, but Bardet tried to break away on the descent, tearing the group apart. In addition to Bardet, Tiberi, Chaves, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) and Harper, Thomas was also part of the lead group.

Ten kilometres before the finish, Foss, Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious), Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Aurelien Paret-Peintre and O'Connor closed the gap again. The next chasing group was unable to close the 14-second gap.

3000 metres before the finish, the collaboration at the front came to an end. Shortly before the Devil's Lap, Chaves went, followed by O'Connor, Harper and Foss, and in the sprint of the group of four no-one was able to stand up to the Norwegian. The chasing group reached the finish a good half a minute behind.