Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali to go head to head at the Tour of the Alps

The four-time Tour de France winner, Froome is set to test the ambitions of a major Giro d’Italia contender, Vincenzo Nibali.  Previous winner and teammate Geraint Thomas not on Team Sky's roster

This year's Tour of the Alps takes place April 22-26 with race favorites Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali choosing to race. Froom is using the race to be in form for the Tour de France which starts on July 6 and Nibali the Giro d'Italia which starts on May 11.

In 2018, Tour of the Alps welcomed Chris Froome (Team Sky) for the first time, in his quest for the Giro d’Italia and the cherished “triple crown”. The four-time Tour de France winner was looking to refine his conditions, but eventually found much more than that and went onto to win his first Maglia Rosa.

Nibali has already won the race twice in 2013 in its former inception as Giro del Trentino and 2016. 

Froome's teammate Geraint Thomas won in 2017 and Thibaut Pinot was last year in 2018. 

33-year-old Froome has raced only twice so far this season, finishing 91st and 94th at the Tour of Colombia and Tour of Catalonia respectively. He withdrew from February's UAE Tour. This will be the final stage race for Team Sky with their current sponsor. Ineos, a chemicals firm owned by Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, takes over on 1 May.

Froome's Team Sky team-mate and current Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas is the only previous British winner of the Tour of the Alps, his victory coming in 2017.

However, teammate and former winner Geraint Thomas is missing from Team Sky's roster, with many speculating that Team Sky's lineup at the Tour of the Alps is insufficient for him to secure overall victory of the stage race.

Twenty teams will feature at the Tour of the Alps, including five World Tour outfits: Team Sky and Bahrain-Merida will be joined by AG2R-La Mondiale, Polish rider Rafal Majka’s Bora-Hansgrohe, and Astana Pro Team, coming off win three stage wins at 2018 Tour of the Alps, led by last year’s winner in Folgaria, Spaniard Pello Bilbao.

The starting line-up in Kufstein will be rounded out by nine Professional teams – Italian Androni-Sidermec, Bardiani-CSF, Nippo-Fantini-Faizanè and Neri-Selle Italia-KTM, Spanish Euskadi-Murias and Caja Rural Seguros-RGA, French Arkea-Samsic, Russian Gazprom-Rusvelo, and Colombian Manzana-Postobon, – Italy National Team and five Continental outfits – Italy’s Team Colpack, Romania’s Giotti Victoria-Palomar and three from Austria, Tirol Cycling Team, Felbermayr-Simplon-Wels and Team Vorarlberg-Santic.

Tirol will once again get the Euroregional race underway, in the same venue – Kufstein, the start and finish of the opening stage.

Chris Froome was a late addition to the Alps start list as he works towards a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title. 

2019 Tour of the Alps Stages

The 2019 Tour of the Alps will run over 711 km in five stages, featuring 10 categorized climbs and an overall 13,630 metres of climbing.

Tune in for live coverage and daily round-ups and highlights of every stage.

Monday April 22nd, 2019
Stage 1: Kufstein – Kufstein 144,0 km, 2.100 mt elevation gain
Difficulty: **

Tuesday April 23rd, 2019
Stage 2: Reith im Alpbachtal – Scena/Schenna 178,7 km, 3.050 mt elevation gain
Difficulty: *****

Wednesday April 24th, 2019
Stage 3: Salorno/Salurn – Baselga di Pinè 106,3 km, 2.650 mt elevation gain
Difficulty: ***

Thursday April 25th, 2019
Stage 4: Baselga di Pinè – Cles 134,0 km, 2.730 mt elevation gain
Difficulty: ***

Friday April 26th, 2019
Stage 5: Caldaro/Kaltern – Bolzano/Bozen 147,8 km, 3.100 mt elevation gain
Difficulty: ***