Racing
Simon Carr wins queen stage of Tour of the Alps
Our young climber goes on long solo attack to take his second win of the season
April 18, 2024
Stage 4 of the Tour of the Alps was expected to be truly epic, and Simon Carr delivered a performance that lived up to those expectations.
Back at the race where he took his first pro win just under a year ago, the 25-year old spent the day in the break and put on an incredible display of strength, going solo with 45-kilometers to go, to take his second win of the season.
“Today was pretty special also because the first few days were so hard,” said Simon after the finish. “I came here with some pretty legitimate ambitions for the GC and worked really hard for it. But I got here and really struggled with allergies. The team and Juanma – my DS – said they still had confidence in me and those things can go as quick as they come. Today, I found myself again.”
The queen stage of the Tour of the Alps only had two classified climbs on the menu, but virtually no flat roads on the profile; the riders were faced with over 4000 meters of climbing on the 140-kilometer stage.
After going on the attack on the first incline of the day, Simon Carr was joined by teammate Hugh Carthy in the breakaway. The eleven-man break worked well together over the ensuing climbs and built up a sizable lead over the peloton behind.
"The plan for today was exactly what happened," said sport director Juanma Garate. "We knew that we had to be in the break even if the morale was a bit down in the team after a tough few days. The plan was to have the climbers in the break and have the belief that we could do it."
Sergio Higuita (BOH) was the first to attack the break on the Passo del Compet and Simon was the only rider that was able to follow. The two of them crested the climb and worked together on the descent slowly increasing their lead over the chase behind. They didn’t have much time to rest however as the duo quickly took on the brutally steep Passo del Vetriolo.
Simon made his decisive move on the hardest inclines of the climb and rolled off the front with 45 kilometers to go. He rode hard over the climb and took on the tricky descent a little over a minute in front of the charging group of GC favorites behind.
A crash in the group behind helped him extend his lead and seal the victory for the young rider.
“The gap came down to under a minute at one point so I kept on pushing on the downhill,” said Simon. “On the final climb I was more confident but I was definitely running on fumes. I am really happy with the result.”
DS Juanma Garate knew Simon could do it.
"I told Simon yesterday, 'the work you have done to get here will show somewhere, somehow. Just have confidence.' And that's exactly what happened today.
"He came back to the car in the beginning of the stage and said 'I am feeling super strong today.' So when the opportunity came, Simon took it. He did everything perfectly today."
One last stage to go tomorrow. You can be sure that the team will go all in to try to match Simon’s exploits.