For Hugh Carthy, the Tour of the Alps is not just a warmup for the fast-approaching Giro d'Italia, but a chance to race, win, and "hopefully do something".
The British climber has not raced since Tirreno-Adriatico last month, his only WorldTour race of the season to date. His directeur sportif, Tejay van Garderen, said that he wanted to see Carthy riding "strong and aggressively".
Speaking prior to the start of stage one, EF Education-EasyPost's Carthy told Cycling Weekly that now the 2023 season is in full swing, he's ready to build on his eighth overall at Tirreno-Adriatico as the Giro d'Italia edges closer.
The British rider is looking to build form at the Tour of the Alps, although he was coy on his main objectives for the week.
“I think we’re pretty clear that with it being five days, we’re looking to try and do something overall,” Carthy said. “The main goal is to use this as some good final preparation for the Giro, but we’re here to race, we’re here to win and to hopefully do something.”
Since finishing third at the 2020 Vuelta a España, Carthy has scored two top ten finishes at the Giro. With those two top ten finishes behind him, Carthy explained to CW that he was looking to reach the heights of his previous Vuelta success at a Grand Tour in 2023.
As well as his third overall in Spain, Carthy also won stage 12 atop the infamous Angliru climb at the Spanish Grand Tour.
“Yeah, I’ve not done anything too different in the past couple of years. So yeah, why not,” he said when asked if he could kick on this season.
Carthy’s sentiment was largely echoed by Van Garderen. The American former professional told Cycling Weekly that as long as his squad came out of the week “better than we came in” then the race will be deemed a success.
“Results wise, I’m not going to put any number on it,” Van Garderen said. “Although I think as long as we see Hugh riding strong and aggressively then we’ll be happy.”
“I think I’ve definitely seen a much more relaxed and calm Hugh this year. He had a really good ride at Tirreno-Adriatico which really boosted his morale. He’s definitely ridden strong in every race he’s done so far,” he added.
“As long as it can keep going in that direction then I see no reason that he’s not capable of that same Vuelta result that he had before.”
EF arrived at the Tour of the Alps with a roster packed full of talent in support of Carthy, including another British climber Simon Carr.
As well as Carr, Van Garderen believes EF have another secret climbing weapon within the team, capable of going the distance in support of Carthy on some of the tougher stages.
“We’ve got Simon in the squad, but also Jefferson Cepeda who is a little bit unknown. He’s been really really strong on a lot of climbs, so we’ve got a couple of really strong guys to support him throughout each day. We’ve got high hopes for Hugh.”
At the Austrian-Italian stage race, Carthy will come up against stiff opposition from Geraint Thomas, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Thymen Arensman and Pavel Sivakov (all Ineos Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious).
