Welcome to Austria and one of the mayor stage races of the C2 calender. 3 mountain stages (2 of the MTF), 1 TT, 1 hill and 2 flat stages makes this one of the real big races of the division. Most of the main climbers in CT are here and ready to battle it out!
Race history
Considering that this is a stage race we will focus on the GC winners here in the history section to not make it too large, but safe to say considering the race has been around since 2008 there has been ALOT of stage winners.
First year of the race a for me PCM legend Bernhard Kohl (I bought him so many times on older PCMs) won, then we have 2 years where 2 of the biggest mangame legends in Andy Schleck and Damiano Cunego took the title, followed by Perez Sanchez in 2011. In 2012 another name that will make old managers nod won in Jose Alarcon, before Iglinski took it in 2013.
In 2014 it was David Abals turn, and then we have Brajkovic, Dekker and Amador winnin one each. So for the 10 first years we had 10 different winners, but from 2018 that would not continue as Pluchkin made the race his and won 4 times in a row! Making him the only multi times winner of the race.
Getting to 2022 we are back to new winners with first Oomen, then Chiarello and last year Jorgenson winning, looking at the startlist this year it seems like we once again will have a new winner and Pluchkin will keep his record as the only rider to win more than once!
2024
Matteo Jorgenson (Newton Foundation p/b Zwift)
2023
William Chiarello (Crabbe-CC Chevigny)
2022
Sam Oomen (Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam)
2021
Aleksandr Pluchkin (Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff)
2020
Aleksandr Pluchkin (Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff)
2019
Aleksandr Pluchkin (Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff)
2018
Aleksandr Pluchkin (Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff)
2017
Andrei Amador (Team UBS)
2016
Thomas Dekker (Compal - Merida)
2015
Janez Brajkovic (ONCE-Eroski)
2014
David Abal (Team CSC-Orbea)
2013
Maxim Iglinski (LukOil-Rostelekom)
2012
Jose Alarcon (Aker Solutions - Bergans)
2011
Francisco Perez Sanchez (UBS - Annie Chun's)
2010
Damiano Cunego (La Gazzetta dello Sport)
2009
Andy Schleck (Domina Vacanze)
2008
Bernhard Kohl (Barloworld)
1
Matteo Jorgenson
Newton Foundation p/b Zwift
24h52'47
2
Julien Bernard
Genii Hyundai N Cycling
+ 28
3
Richard Antonio Carapaz
Zain-Omantel
+ 1'03
4
Rasmus Guldhammer
Tafjord Kraft
+ 1'23
5
Sindre Skjostad Lunke
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'46
6
Pierre Paolo Penasa
Ethiopian Airlines
+ 2'37
7
Thymen Arensman
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Dion Smith
Duvel-Tsingtao
+ 2'47
9
George Bennett
Spark Team NZ
+ 2'49
10
Victor Lafay
Euskotren - Pays Basque
+ 2'52
Preview
Sprinters
2 flat stages for the sprinters and we have some sprinters who will be quite happy as this is NOT the strongest sprinter field of the season. Best pure sprinter is Hayakawa, followed by Tivani. None really ranked as the best sprinters in the world, and none of them top 5 in CT. Still they are the fastest here and ready to fight for the 2 flat stages!
The closest competitors in my eyes are 2 sprinters who are also really good puncheurs in Lagane and Korosec. Both good sprinters with a good punch up the hills. This might help them have fitter legs as we get to the flat stages after some really hard mountains and a hilly stage thrown in. Eislers and Visser is somewhat of the same type
Other than this Sinclair deserves a mention, while personally it would be interesting to see if Thomas can do anything in this weakened field.
Name
FL
SP
AC
Hayakawa
72
78
77
Tivani
70
77
78
Lagane
70
76
77
Eislers
74
76
75
Sinclair
70
76
75
Korosec
71
75
78
Visser
73
74
75
Van Lerberghe
73
74
71
Thomas
73
74
79
Puncheurs
Only one hilly stage and I will therefor not use a lot of the time on this, Lagane and Korosec already mentioned but also Boswell, Watson, Dieteren and Kanepejsare here as pure puncheurs / stage hunters. Budyak could be mentioned but he is a better climber aswell. My guess is that the hilly stage will see either a BOTD or a big peloton where positioning will decide
Name
MO
MM
HI
ST
RS
SP
AC
Lagane
70
74
78
70
71
76
77
Boswell
69
74
78
74
70
63
73
Watson
65
72
78
76
72
62
72
Budyak
74
76
78
72
67
57
68
Dieteren
70
74
77
75
70
63
66
Kanepejs
67
72
77
72
71
62
71
Schönberger
72
74
76
73
74
65
71
Korosec
68
72
75
74
71
75
78
Holmes
72
74
75
71
73
67
71
TT
The race ends in a pretty long Time Trial and we have several pure time trialists present, where the biggest favorite might be Belevics, followed by Thomas and Politt. There are several other strong ones, including Mathis, Sterbini, Hepburn, Cardona and Nyoni.
The question is however how the stage might be affacted by it being on the last day, considering that a rider like Cattaneo might be the biggest favorite considering he is the best TTer among the climbers, followed by Habtemichael and Prado.
Name
FL
MO
TT
RC
Thomas
73
56
78
70
Politt
73
63
78
72
Belevics
76
60
78
73
Mathis
72
62
77
64
Sterbini
67
55
77
66
Hepburn
69
62
77
67
Cardona
73
64
77
68
Nyoni
69
56
77
69
Frison
70
56
76
65
Fraile
65
72
75
63
Cattaneo
66
78
75
71
Hofer
70
55
75
63
Terada
69
60
75
71
Climbing / GC
The biggest favorites has to be Galta and Meintjes. Strong climbers both of them with Galta having a small advantage in climbing, TT and energy stats whil Meintjes is the best puncheur and attacker. This will be the big CT battle between the best climbers in the division!
Behind them we have a strong field, with Munoz being the best pure climber among them. He would however need to secure time on the climbs and hills to keep the for me last podium favorite Habtemichael behind him who is a much better TTer. Same can be said about Smith and Buitrago who will loose time on the last stage and needs to be offensive early on.
Cattaneo on the other hand will have to try to hold on for dear life and then get time back on the last stage, same for Prado and Rachid who should be able to take back time on the TT.
Last honorable mentions to Seboka, Quintana and Petelin. Good climbers but for me they are just not strong enough to really compete for the top spots.
Big race for us and felt we sent a squad that can do a bit of everything!
Galta the big name for us and he should be the big favorite, even though Meintjes (and others) can beat him I will see it as a dissapointment if we do not win this! Didn't send Schultz as support (cant remember why) so have to hope that Holmes is enough.
Thomas here for the TT, but with the sprinting field he might have an outside shot there, hopefully Lerberghe can work as a leadout
Should be an interesting race - hopefully Buitrago can make the most of his ACC and MM, otherwise he'll be playing catch up to the better climbers and TTers. Not expecting a win, but a podium and/or stage win could be possible if we play everything right.
We're here stage hunting, as I don't think Berthet or Rochas can do much in this field, and with the TT.
Hopefully them, Dieteren and Politt can make the race worthwile.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt 
