A climbing spectacle with feelings of home for Felix Gall – DiePresse.com
Felix Gall almost drives for the first red and white overall victory for 40 years at the Tour of the Alps.
Exactly 40 years after the only Austrian triumph to date on the Trentino tour Felix Gall to bring the green jersey in his home country at the now renamed Tour of the Alps. The cross -border tour leads after the start of the San Lorenzo Dorsino in Trentine on Easter Monday (1.40 p.m., live in ORF Sport+) on the last two stages through East Tyrol next Friday to the finish to Lienz-just a few kilometers from Gall’s home town of Nußdorf-Debant.
« The Tour of the Alps 2023 was a key moment for me. I will never forget the feeling of driving with friends and family in front of a home crowd. At that time, the professional from the French team Decathlon-AG2R ranked nine. A few months later, he finally arrived in the top of the world with the victory on the royal stage of the Tour de France and as an overall appraiser and made a name for himself as a mountain specialist and classification driver. The 27-year-old’s anticipation and expectations are correspondingly high. « It is very special to be able to drive a race exactly where you grew up. And if there is also the chance of a top result, the motivation is of course all the greater. »
In this year’s season Gall with two 18th overall ranks at UAE tour and Paris-Nice did not start optimally, and he also fell ill with his last racing operation and was unable to end the Catalonia tour at the end of March. But now he reported back fit. « In the past few days I have inspected the routes of the last stages of the Tour of the Alps. I will do my best, » announced the East Tyrolean.
Tour is again the season highlight
Gall plays in the cards that none of the top stars are at the start. The strongest competitors of the Decathlon captain include Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-Bora), the Italians Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos). Traditionally, many drivers use the race to prepare for the Giro d’Italia, but Gall will not take part in the tour of Italy in early May. The 27-year-old, who is still under contract with Decathlon until 2026, concentrates on the tour (July 5th to 27th), where he wants to fight for top results as captain.
The tour begins with a mountainous stage around San Lorenzo Dorsino. The other sections are also very demanding and have 2400 to 3750 vertical meters. The fourth stage on Thursday starts in Sillian, after a detour to the South Tyrolean Dolomites, the section ends after 163 km in Obertilliach. The next day it goes on a circuit about Lienz in Gall’s immediate home, where it is twice to Bannberg and over at 112 km Stronach goes to the Iselsberg.
Gall is not the only Austrian in the field with eight World tour racing stables. Daniel Geismayr and Emanuel Zangerle compete in the Vorarlberg team, for the Austrian national team, among others, Riccardo Zoidl and Martin Messner. (swi)
