Tour of the Alps GC in a stand-off ahead of Queen stage as favourites look at each other behind Storer

Three days in, and there's been surprisingly little GC action at the Tour of the Alps so far, with something of a stand-off brewing between a group of contenders ahead of stage 4, the race's toughest stage.

Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) leads by 41 seconds thanks to his stage 2 victory, but the main contenders have finished all together for three days in a row, meaning the quintet of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Paul Seixas, Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) are separated by only six seconds.

A few pre-race favourites have already dropped out of contention – Antonio TIberi (Bahrain Victorious) abandoned the race through illness, and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) are riding into form – but there are still some strong, motivated riders in the frame.

The race may be a Giro d'Italia warm-up race for many, but there's still plenty of riders for whom that isn't the case, and even for those who do have one eye on May, this is a tough, competitive event, and there should be plenty of riders who want to win, not just train. 

What the last two days have shown, though, is that the riders in the top 10 are hesitant to – or perhaps struggling to find the opportunities to – attack each other. There was something of a split on stage 2, but the chasing groups came back together in the finale, and on stage 3 it was an even bigger group that contested for second with little GC action on the final climb.

In a race like the Tour of the Alps, where it's up and down every day but with no mountain-top finish, it can be hard to make the difference on many stages. The climbs here are punchy instead of long and challenging, so the possibility of long, ground-out GC battle on a big climb is missing. 

The big question mark is pinned against Storer's name. If any other rider or team had a 40-second gap over the kind of riders who are in the top 10 here, we may be saying the race was over, Storer and Tudor Pro Cycling have shown some weaknesses. They played stage 3 well, placing a threatening rider in the break so they didn't have to work and other teams did, but Storer was alone in the final when all his rivals had team mates. This is something the other teams can hope to exploit.

With two riders in the top five, Decathlon AG2R may look like the best team to challenge in the next few days, but their co-leadership issue is perhaps causing problems. Youngster Seixas is so keen to race, and doesn't look like he's ready to give up his chances to work for Gall – he wants to see how far he can go. But equally for Gall, the more accomplished rider, he'll want to establish himself as a GC leader and chase the win in his hometown of Lienz.

Instead, it should be down to Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to do the work against Tudor. Jai Hindley is, on paper, the strongest climber in contention, but more so on the mountains, so that might not serve him here, and opens the door for the more punchy Ciccone to take an important GC result. Both are building towards the Giro, but Ciccone is perhaps the more motivated, aggressive rider, and the more likely to try and take things up to topple Storer.

A chance for fireworks on stage 4?

Image 1 of 1

Though the GC may be at a bit of a stalemate on Wednesday evening, stage 4 offers perhaps the most fertile ground for a shake up. The organisers have designated the stage from Sillian to Obertilliach as the hardest, as the peloton takes on the tough Austrian terrain.

The 168km stage takes in six climbs, starting straight out the gate and then packing in three ascents in the final 40km, with gradients of 10%. A breakaway should get away, but the middle of the stage offers time for teams to bring a move back, and then set-up a GC battle in the final. 

With only a shorter stage to come on stage 5, this is the final chance for any GC hopefuls to take significant time and try to take the race lead from Storer. The Australian has shown his strength in the climbs, and remains a force to be reckoned with, but repeated attacks in the final should be enough to weaken his team and potentially put him on the back foot.

Like most of the stages at the Tour of the Alps, the finish is on just a slight rise rather than a significant uphill, so the favourites will have to kick the action off on, at the latest, the final climb if they are to make differences on the GC.