The official route of the next season’s Tour of Alps edition is finally announced on Tuesday along with a special, new team prize.
Race organizers have created and established a new prize called Team Up in memory of Michele Scaproni who was the winner of this year’s opening stage just weeks before being killed in a truck collision while training in Italy.
Scarponi’s siblings, Marco and Silvia were the ones to announce the new prize soon after the 2018 route became public. With this prize, the tour organizers aim to award the team that shows the best ‘collective effort’ throughout the tour.
A novelty in the name of #Michele: the #TotA Team Up award for the best team spirit. With Marco and Silvia, Michele’s siblings pic.twitter.com/lltiNB3gRM
— Tour of The Alps (@Tourof_TheAlps) November 7, 2017
A symbolic prize
Even though there will be no prize money awarded, the whole team will be able to go onto the podium before the start of each stage and present a donation in the name of race organizers to a local voluntary organization.
The new team prize aims to show the strong “emotional link” between the tour of the Alps and Scarponi. Tour organizers admitted that the new prize is actually a celebration of “the selflessness, the generosity, the solidarity, and the essence of cycling at its best, certainly embodied by the personality of Michele Scarponi.”
We all know Michele Scarponi had quite a connection with the Tour of the Alps, making it a habit to use the tour as the perfect preparation ahead of the Giro d’Italia. Scarponi won the event in 2011 as well.
A cry for road safety by Marco Scarponi: too many deceases on the road pic.twitter.com/2NcJMO3kcp
— Tour of The Alps (@Tourof_TheAlps) November 7, 2017
The Official Route of the 2018 Tour of Alps event
Here is the route of the 2018 #TOTA! Enjoy! https://t.co/VUxgPxntkM
— Tour of The Alps (@Tourof_TheAlps) November 7, 2017
