What happened yesterday in Milan, during the presentation of the Tour of the Alps 2023, Was the comparison between two ways of understanding cycling. In the presence of Mauro Vegni, organizer of Tour of ItalyThe topic emerged naturally. Then it remained hidden, perhaps because it wasn't the right place for further exploration.
Il Tour of the Alps – we read in the official press release – has in fact stated his own way of interpreting cyclingClimbs, significant elevation changes but without extreme altitudes, short mileages and transfers reduced to a minimum. This is how the “TotA Formula” can be summarized., rewarded by the appreciation of champions and teams – proof of which is the large World Tour contingent lined up at the start year after year – as well as by the enthusiasm of an increasingly large and international audience.
The ToTa formula
Il Tour of the Alps will start on April 17, 2023 from Austria and will end on the 21st in South TyrolThe five stages offer a modern and exciting model, in which the spectacle and the riders are forcefully at the centre of the scene. Average length of the stages is 150,52 kilometers: the shortest is 127,5 while the longest measures 165,2. Each stage of the Tour of the Alps It starts in mid-morning and ends in the early afternoon. Once upon a time, the Giro did the same. Then the demands of television have pushed the needs of athletes into the background. So the stages start at lunchtime and end in the evening, with all the associated problems.
«I think that for a week-long race – explained Giuseppe Saronni – the technical formula of the Tour of the Alps you represent the ideal solutionThere is brilliance, there is spectacle every day. Il Tour of the Alps offers modern cycling routesIt's a race for climbers, there's no doubt about it, and the athletes will tackle it with intensity from start to finish."
Quality and quantity
Probably modernity has nothing to do with it: cycling is cycling and that's it. However, it is a fact that the progressive reduction of race distances in recent times has produced the greatest spectacle. An orientation born from the Return, who however did not give up his many uphill finishes, then taken up by the Tour. The most spectacular stage of the last edition, that of Granon and the collapse of Pogacar, measured just 151,7 kilometers. In the next edition too, the shortest stages will be those with uphill finishes.
"The Tour of the Alps – said Davide Cassani, present in the room – has found a strong identity, thanks to the challenging routes that distinguish the territories. You don't come to this race to prepare, but to win.The start of the first stage will be tough, and it will be possible to see who the favorite of the race is from here on out. Compared to the past, the races are much more spectacular and this is because the focus is more on quality, rather than quantity.We must aim to offer races that are beautiful to watch, just like the Tour of the Alps».
TV, a blessing and a curse
The three weeks of the Grand Tours are untouchable, and neither are the stage stages.We agree on this. Yet, stages that are too long seem boring, to the point of asking ourselves... If the riders of the past were truly more combative. The answer is probably no., so much so that the legendary stages recur in a limited number of stories and the rest remain in the statistics.
What makes the difference is the television coverage. The full live broadcast also shows moments of supposed... weakness, is soporific, and often forces reporters into veritable marathons. Do we really need it? Those kilometers are the basis of the accumulation of fatigue that in the final stages favors the more solid riders, but they are not spectacular. We finally have the opportunity to appreciate the work of the gregarious, but the spectacle of the race is the finals. Nor can we expect to go full speed ahead from start to finish in the name of spectacle.
It is right that television becomes the discriminant for modifying the routes and their length? Is it right to force athletes to run barbaric schedules? We understand the cost of the fees, but the answer is no.
«For what it offers from a technical point of view – commented Mauro Vegni – il Tour of the Alps highlights real riders And even those who might consider showing up with ambitions at the Giro d'Italia a few weeks later. A profile of the next winner? He'll be an absolute champion, a great climber. As for the Giro, the need for longer stages stems from the fact that Italy is stretched out in the centre of the MediterraneanTo cover the greatest number of regions, we cannot make the stops too short."
The mountain stages of the next Giro are all around 200 kilometers. Could this threat lead the riders to adopt less Garibaldian behavior as they await the final climb?
Objective security
And so il Tour of the Alps he enjoys the moment and moves forward in the spirit of his philosophy. At his side, Trentino Marketing e the enthusiastic partnership with the South Tyrolean counterparts and Austrian Tyrol, proud to start the race.
«We intend to continue – said Maurizio Evangelista, General Manager (opening photo) – on a technical direction that embodies the modernity of cyclingCycling today is decidedly more spectacular than in the past, and the focus of a rider's career has also shifted. There will be more and more precocious athletes and it is right to give them great challenges to face."
"One of the cornerstones for us," he continued, "is the issue of safety. Within our organizational team, there is a technical core that works on this topic all year round».
Among the most touching notes of the presentation, there was Sonny Colbrelli's speechThe video showed a man still grappling with an important and painful life choice, but always madly in love with bikes and cyclingo. Sonny won his European title in Trentino, and his eyes were shining as he spoke about it. We probably aren't ready to be without him either.
