The Tour of Austria starts with a flat stage for the sprinters. Really? The profile looks far easier than it actually is. The small bump up to the mountain sprint is really difficult as the road is very narrow there and pretty steep. Positioning is key today. Then it`s something for a bunch sprint.
We have a solo leader on the first climb of the day. It`s young Czech Jakub Novak loaned by Milka and a coming stage racer talent. This season he finds himself as one of the most attacking riders in the peloton.
In the sprint for the KoM points he was joined by some more riders but had the tiny advance to take the maximum points.
He wins ahead of Dupont, Brändle, Corti and Van Ooijen.
Shock moment for Pokerstars. Their sprinter and maybe even the best in the starter field Guillen on the asphalt. Not the best way to start a stage race.
After the descent we finally cann name the break of the day as the gap goes over 2min and surprisingly and a bit disappointing probably not to see any D2 rider. Novak, Ariesen Dupont Brändle Corti Van Ooijen Mazur Brenes
The Austrian surely enjoy to see one of their riders in the group with Brändle. Most big favourites did not send a guy into the break but one of the biggest in Van Den Broeck decided to send one of his biggest mountain helpers with Dupont. Could be an interesting tactic.
Corti as best sprinter in this group decides the first intermediate ahead of Novak and Van Ooijen.
Behind 3 teams have started to chase. It`s Vespa for Pozzovivo/Gatto, Pokerstars for Rujano/Guillen, who obviously is back in the pack after his crash and Proximus for Valverde.
Second KoM and again pretty narrow roads. The only one who collected points on both sprints is Brändle as 3rd. The Austrian surely wants to perform well in his home race. But the sprint is won by Brenes ahead of Mazur with the Austrian in 3rd.
2nd intermediate and again they are all interested as the bonus seconds could deliver a nice overall position when they have success.
Van Ooijen, Dupont and Novak this time.
Big problems for some of the favourites after the narrow climb. You can easily see the Swedish jersey of Lövkvist. The big question obviously is, how much money did Ferrari gave him to underperform?
But he is not the only one. Other big names being behind: Van Den Broeck Colorado, Parra Bustamante Alarcon Montenegro, Krasnoperov Ratiy
So there are even two of the biggest overall favourites behind.
They needed almost 40km until they were able to close the gap. Maybe important energy they could need in later stages as mainly Pirelli and Aker made the chase. But now the next hill is not far away and these riders really need to hurry to gain some positions to avoid a similar situation again.
Unluckiest moment for Van Den Broeck. Just being back in the pack he crashes. Not his race so far. 55km to go.
Better news for the teams this time. The split was smaller and so it didn`t take long until everything was together in the peloton again including Van Den Broeck, who looks pretty good and not really injured.
Time for the first attacks. Vandborg accelerates with 32km to go. His team mate Brändle is still in the breakaway but obviously UniCredit is planning something more today.
Last climb for today. Again Brändle is included in the top 3, this time winning the sprint and taking enough points to be tomorrows King of the Mountain with 2 points ahead of Novak. Brenes and Mazur take the small points here.
Due to the high pace to bring back the breakaway there is another split in the peloton. Again several riders are caught behind with 16km to go and already 1'45 behind: Caruso Rujano Schwaab Lövkvist Colorado, Parra Bustamante, Duenas Montenegro, Krasnoperov Ratiy
D2: All riders
The underlined riders are the new victims, who have been concentrated the first time. Most notable surely Caruso and Rujano, who are counted as podium finishers.
Most lucky guy surely is Van Den Broeck, who had a tough day so far but obviously found his way into the first half of the peloton just like Alarcon this time. Also Duarte, Valverde, De La Fuente, Pozzovivo, Kolesnikov and Lloret are in the first group.
Strange to see that Saab isn`t going back to help Lövkvist as some other teams. Instead they are even chasing in the first group for Chichi as the breakaway is still 50s ahead with 7.6km to go.
More attacks. Again Vandborg and also Criel this time.
The breakaway worked pretty good together in the final and so the gap is still 45s with 3km to go. Van Ooijen in the wrong position now being the first. Behind Novak, Brenes and Brändle in an excellent position while the strongest sprinters Corti and Ariesen are a bit far behind.
Van Ooijen had no chance and with 1km to go he was overtaken by Novak, Brändle and Mazur. It was a close fight between first two. But all tries to push him forward weren`t enough. Neo-pro Jakub Novak was the strongest today and celebrates his first win ever. Brändle being 2nd ahead of Mazur. Disappointing for Corti, who normally was expected to have an easy play in a possible sprint.
Criel saved a gap to the peloton and finishes 9th but thanks to a strong sprinting Gatto both are counted the same time as also the peloton.
Now the unlucky riders. They had no chance to come back again and lose some time. 3'47 on the breakaway and still 2'35 on the other favourites.
This surely will become an interesting stage tomorrow when riders like Rujano, Caruso or Lövkvist need to gain time.
D2: Disappointing stage. Not being in the breakaway, who even came though. Then finding themselves in the later group after the split and not having a single rider in the first group in the end. It just can become better.
