While all eyes were on teams like Ineos Grenadiers and Tom Pidcock's Pinarello-Q36.5 at this week's Tour of the Alps, a Continental outfit strode out on the first stage and pulled the rug from under them. Pleased as punch even to have been invited, Japan-registered Team Ukyo were not expecting to go home with a victory – let alone be wearing the race leader's green jersey.
But that's exactly what transpired on the first stage, based in the Alpine city of Innsbruck in Austria, when 23-year-old Tommaso Dati powered across the line in a chaotic bunch sprint. Runner-up was Pidcock, beaten into second place in a sprint for only the second time this season; the first, you may remember, was back at Milan-San Remo at the hands of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Dati, then, is in good company.
The hilly, 144km stage was dominated by a small breakaway, caught almost inevitably on the run-in to the finish, leaving a full-bore bunch dash up the same finishing straight used in 2018's World Championships.
Dati who, like much of his team, hails from Italy, took full advantage.
"It was a great finish," he said afterwards. "Everyone I think is proud of us for this result and the great work we put in.
"Maybe we are just a Continental team, but because of this, we feel less pressure to deliver," he added. "We go to the races to win, of course, but maybe we have a little less pressure from the director sportives, so we deliver the results calmly."
One of those director sportives is Manuele Boaro, a recently retired Astana rider. He described Dati as "very hungry" to get results.
"He's shown, not only this race, that he's in great condition," Boaro told CW. "He's not a sprinter, but he does have a fast finish. He wasn't expected to win, but he's very hungry because he wants to step up to a ProTeam or World Tour team. This is why the team is always fighting for wins. There's no slackers in this team.
"We'll celebrate tonight," he added. "We'll be opening the good wine, but the guys have to be still focused with four hard stages in front of us. We came here with [Simone] Raccani who can maybe climb well for the GC. I know it's hard but we have to try, because this race is very important for the guys. The level here is very high for us. We've started well but we'll stay calm and take it day by day."
Tomorrow's stage from Telfs to Val Martell is an altogether more taxing affair than today, with a 1,500m cat-one mountain climb near the start, a big cat-three in the middle and a short but steep climb to the finish.
Results
Tour of the Alps 2026, stage 1: Innsbruck > Innsbruck, 144km
1. Tommaso Dati (Ita) Team Ukyo, 144km in 3:21:35
2. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Pinarello-Q36.5
3. Florian Storck (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling
4. Gabriele Bessega (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta
5. Federico Iacomoni (Ita) Team Ukyo
6. Felix Engelhardt (Ger) Jayco AlUla
7. Andrea Petrobon (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta
8. Leonardo Vesco (Ita) Italy
9. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
10. Alexandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, all at same time
General Classification after stage 1
1. Tommaso Dati (Ita) Team Ukyo, 144km in 3:21:25
2. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Pinarello-Q36.5, +4s
3. Florian Storck (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling, +6sd
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, +8s
5. Gabriele Bessega (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta, +10s
6. Federico Iacomoni (Ita) Team Ukyo, +10s
7. Felix Engelhardt (Ger) Jayco AlUla
8. Andrea Petrobon (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta
9. Leonardo Vesco (Ita) Italy
10. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
