Favorites stage 1 Tour of the Alps 2025 | Starting slowly is out of the question due to a difficult final stretch and cold weather in the Alps.

The Tour of the Alps is a race in the Alps, a competition for climbers. It's five days of ups and downs, so there's no room to warm up on the first day. Still, we may see some riders who differ from later in the week. The number of climbs on the opening day is much less than in the following days. Does that offer opportunities for climbers or punchers who are usually less strong but still have fresh legs?

We start and finish in the beautiful mountain village of San Lorenzo Dorsino. A beautiful lap of over 145 kilometers has been plotted, facing two categorized climbs. The Campo Carlo Magno is a first-category climb, although this is more because of its length of 14.5 kilometers than its average gradient of 6.2 percent. After a long descent and a downhill section, we hit the Passo del Durone, which at 6.3 kilometers is a lot shorter but steeper at an average gradient of 7.8 percent.

We can expect everyone to be going full throttle here, knowing that the Durone is followed by a descent and then a rolling climb towards the finish in San Lorenzo Dorsino. That climb is tough for the first 3 kilometers, then flattens out for 4 kilometers and rises again in the last 2 kilometers to a maximum of 7.3 percent. An excellent area for an explosive sprint, even more so than a solo on day 1?

Times
Start: 11:30 AM local time (05:30 AM EDT)
Finish: around 3:15 PM local time (09:15 AM EDT)

Although the chance of heavy rain is not significant, a few drops are expected on Monday. The temperature at the start and finish will be particularly low, around 5 degrees. Down in the valley, the temperature will rise to a maximum of 15 degrees.

There are no sprint stages or time trials this week, but daily action. In the cold, with perhaps a little rain and a punchy finish, the big question is whether the big names will be ready to go right from the start or whether some riders will need a little more time to find their rhythm. In that respect, it's anyone's guess, and we'll mainly be looking at the more explosive climbers. At defending champions Lidl-Trek, we'll keep an eye on Giulio Ciccone, who, with his strong legs, is one of the best finishers in the world in this type of race. Tao Geoghegan Hart was also among the favorites, but after a run-up full of physical setbacks, it is questionable what we can expect from him.

At Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, all eyes will be on Jai Hindley throughout the week, although the Australian might prefer a tougher race. The same goes for the usually explosive Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL). Matthew Riccitello, Paul Seixas, and Koen Bouwman are certainly explosive, with the American from Israel-Premier Tech particularly impressive with 11th place in the Tour of Catalonia. Seixas punched his way to fifth place in the GP La Marseillaise on behalf of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, and Bouwman (Jayco-Alula) only rode two races in 2025, so we are very curious to see if he is ready after just one month of training.

A large group behind them could also win if the penultimate climb is tough and it comes down to a man-to-man battle on the final climb, a real watts-per-kilogram finale. Then, the guys with slightly less explosive legs might also be able to show their stuff. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Davide Piganzoli (Polti), Michael Storer (Tudor), Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) and, of course, Dutch hope Thymen Arensman (INEOS) are all contenders.  

Top favorites: Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Outsiders: Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Long shots: Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Davide Piganzoli (Polti), Michael Storer (Tudor), Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL), Koen Bouwman (Jayco-AlUla) and Thymen Arensman (INEOS).

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])