Ineos Grenadiers are eyeing a fourth Tour of the Alps title in seven years, and they are prepared to take the race on as part of Tobias Foss and Geraint Thomas' final build-up to the Giro d’Italia.
The British team will have stiff competition from Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla), Wout Poels and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), but they have the race under control for now with Foss in the leaders jersey after winning the opening stage.
“We’re not afraid to be aggressive and take responsibility so it iust depends on the race situation and what’s the best way to win the race,” team DS Zak Dempster told Cyclingnews ahead of stage 2 in Italy. “We need to follow those instincts and whatever is viable, do it.”
Foss combined well with Thomas on the run to the line on stage 1, and they used the threat of Filippo Ganna to their advantage before the Norwegian took the reduced sprint in Cortina.
But this is an in-race relationship and trust that has been building ever since Foss joined from Jumbo-Visma, spending long and testing hours at altitude camps with the Brit.
“They’ve [Foss and Thomas] been together in Sierra Nevada for the past three weeks and signs have been positive,” said Dempster.
“I think they’re both on a good trajectory towards the Giro d’Italia. But at the same time, we’re at this race to make the most of it so of course we hoped that they would both be there and expected they would combine well.”
With the GC battle already beginning on stage 1, Ineos will have their work cut out to defend the green jersey as attacks continue to fly and the parcours only gets harder.
Stage 3 isn’t as long and doesn’t feature as much elevation gain as stage 2, but double ascents of both the Weerberg (3.2km at 9.9%) and Pillberg (3.2km at 10.3%) will see the best climbers show their hand, especially with the final crest coming 4km from the finish in Schwaz.
That day is also the only stage fully competed in Austria, with colder and wetter weather conditions expected.
“We have G and Tobias on GC now. Obviously Tobias is leading and he’s a guy that’s been ninth in the Giro and showed good potential. We’re here to race and try to do the best result possible,” Dempster said at the sunny start in Salorno.
“Definitely how they progress over the next three stages, talking from tomorrow [stage 3] on will be an important signal towards the Giro so we’re definitely not going to bring him off GC for anything. He’ll give it a go and we’ll see what he’s got.”
Stage 4 on Thursday is the hardest of the race with 3,830 metres of elevation gain and two brutally tough category 1 climbs in the middle phase of racing – the Passo del Compet (10.2km at 8.3%) and Passo del Vetriolo (9.4km at 8.7%).
This will be the true test for both Thomas and Foss to see just how prepared they are for the Giro which starts on May 4 in Venaria Reale.
Foss is hoping to play a supporting role for Thomas as the Briton returns to the Giro one year after missing out on the maglia rosa on the penultimate day, but Dempster believes the former time trial world champion’s ceiling is still rising, with Monday’s victory a sign of more to come.
“The main focus with Tobias [Foss] is allowing him the time to set that foundation to get his best rides out and express his talent,” said the Australian.
“With him he’s of course we know he’s a high quality cyclist, he’s won the world TT champs, he’s been top 10 in the Giro.
“Theres no doubt we believe he can be a winner and an important rider for us. That’s definitely what we hope for, but at the same time it’s about allowing him time to set the foundations that its consistent and he can deliver it in a good way for his entire career.”
