Decathlon dominates in final stage of Tour of the Alps: Seixas lets Prodhomme win, Storer stuns Arensman and takes the GC

On Thursday, Arensman had caused quite a stir in the Tour of the Alps the day before. The Dutchman won the fourth stage with an incredible solo effort, taking the lead in the GC from Michael Storer. The gap between the INEOS Grenadiers rider and the Australian from Tudor was only 11 seconds before the start of the final stage, while Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) in third place was more than two minutes behind.

The Tour of the Alps final stage was only 112 kilometers long, but the riders were again faced with much climbing. With the start and finish in Linz, Austria, the riders had to tackle the Bannberg (4.8 kilometers at 9.2%) twice and other uncategorized climbs. The final climb of 3.1 kilometers with an average gradient of no less than 12.3% (!) formed the finale, with the summit 10 kilometers from the finish.

In the final stage, fifteen riders quickly decided to attack. The breakaway group, including Dutch rider Koen Bouwman and top talent Seixas, swiftly built up a lead of almost three minutes during the first climb of the day. At the top, with 75 kilometers to go, the breakaway group had a lead of more than four minutes.

With fifty kilometers to go, the riders had already completed most of the climbs, and the leaders still had a three-minute lead. In the peloton, Arensman was kept well at the front by his teammates. The breakaway group still had a comfortable lead on the penultimate climb of the Tour of the Alps.

But in the peloton, Storer's teammates put in a huge effort, leaving Arensman and Storer alone with 35 kilometers to go. Storer again pushed hard on the steep sections, and the Dutchman eventually had to let the Australian go. With 20 kilometers to go, Arensman was half a minute behind Storer.

Even with the crazy pace, the eight remaining leaders—Bouwman and Seixas—kept a three-minute lead. With just one climb left, the eight attackers would battle it out on the super-tough Stronach.

However, it was not yet certain that the winner would come from the group at the front, as Storer was only two minutes behind at the foot of the final climb. The breakaway group quickly fell apart on the steep slopes of the final climb, and Bouwman kept up well with the front riders. But when Seixas picked up the pace, the 18-year-old Frenchman took off.

Just when it seemed that Seixas had made the decisive move, his teammate Nicolas Prudhomme suddenly caught up. The two Frenchmen reached the top together and were left to battle for the stage victory. Eventually, Prudhomme took the win in the streets of Lienz. Storer won the GC ahead of Arensman.