Giulio Pellizzari delivered the biggest result of his young career on Friday, taking both the final stage and overall title at the Tour of the Alps with a decisive late attack. Meanwhile Osgoode, Ont.’s Derek Gee-West showed signs of improving fitness on the Queen stage.
The national champ finished 15th on the stage, albeit almost four minutes behind, but climbed to just outside of the top-10. The Lidl-Trek rider ended up 12th overall.
Stage 5
The 22-year-old Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider proved strongest on the final climb into Bolzano. Not only did he distance his closest challengers, but he also confirmed himself as one of the sport’s rising Grand Tour threats.
Colombia’s Egan Bernal finished second on the stage and in the GC, while Australia’s Michael Storer rounded out the podium on the day. Thymen Arensman placed third overall.
The 128-km stage from Trento packed quite a punch despite it being relatively short. After an animated opening hour, a 12-rider breakaway went clear. The move had riders including Tom Pidcock, stage 4 winner Lennart Jasch, Koen Bouwman and Sam Oomen. The break never gained more than three minutes, however, with Pellizzari’s team controlling the gap.
As the race hit the brutal Montoppio climb, the breakaway began to fracture. Pidcock briefly pushed on with Juan Felipe Rodríguez, but they were eventually caught.
Moments later, Pellizzari made his move.
Only Arensman initially responded, but the Italian quickly rode clear, cresting the final climb with a gap of around 20 seconds. From there, he held firm on the technical descent into Bolzano, and rode to the dub.
Next up for Gee-West is the 2026 Giro d’Italia, where he hopes to improve on his fourth, last year. As far as Pidcock, he will be having an easy day on Saturday, then jumping into battle at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have full coverage of LBL, btw, so be sure to check back here.