Tommaso Dati stuns the big guns to take first Tour of the Alps stage

The opening stage of the 2026 Tour of the Alps saw an early breakaway quickly establish an advantage, featuring three riders: Tobias Nolde, Emanuel Zangerle (both Team Vorarlberg) and Josef Direnbauer (Hrinkow Advarics).

Behind, the peloton maintained a steady tempo as the breakaway trio built a comfortable margin, with proceedings controlled by INEOS and Jayco AlUla.

With 30 kilometres to go, the break still held over two minutes, but a 4 kilometre climb at 6.9 percent made the chances of a breakaway victory unlikely. On the early slopes, Nolde was dropped, leaving two riders out front.

Over the top of the final climb, the leading pair still held a 40 second advantage with 25 kilometres remaining, while Jayco AlUla continued to set the pace behind.

Inside the final 15 kilometres, Zangerle was left alone out front, holding a narrow gap as light rain began to fall, with Jayco AlUla still controlling the peloton. In a dramatic twist, Zangerle extended his lead back to over 20 seconds in the finale as he headed towards his hometown of Innsbruck.

With five kilometres to go, Ineos Grenadiers came to the front and lifted the pace, catching Zangerle and stringing out the peloton for Victor Langellotti.

Thymen Arensman attacked with three kilometres remaining but was quickly chased down by Will Barta (Tudor) as the peloton swept through the streets of Innsbruck.

Arensman was caught inside the final 400 metres, and Team Ukyo timed their move to perfection, delivering a textbook leadout for Dati.

Dati finished the job in style, beating Pidcock in the sprint to secure an impressive victory.

The Tour of the Alps continues on Tuesday with a stage to Val Martello.