Hello and welcome to day 1 of the 2020 Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt! Innsbruck will be the start hub for the first two stages - so that's where we are today!
The capital of the Tyrol state is the fifth Austrian city in terms of inhabitants, counting more than 130,000 residents. Its name means "bridge over the Inn", with the Inn being the river flowing through the city. Innsbruck is mainly know for winter sports, having hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. Furthermore, it hosts the third event of the Four Hills Tournament (ski jumping) every year. Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that economically speaking, tourism is a substantial source of revenue.
After the start line, the riders' climbing legs will be tested almost immediately, with the first of six climbs up to Axams starting. On the 3rd and 5th passage, a 3rd category KoM sprint will take place here, while we'll have an intermediate sprint after the 1st, 3rd and 5th descent down to Kematen.
Five times, the riders will get back to Innsbruck and redo this climb, but after the sixth and last ascent, the riders will turn West just before entering Kematen, starting the long final ascent to Kühtai.
Kühtai is a winter sports village in the Stubai Alps, located at slightly over 2,000 meters - which will provide a real test not only for the riders' legs, but as well for their lungs! It's not only one of Austria's highest ski resorts, it's as well one of the highest points we'll reach during this year's Tour of Austria - yet still 500m lower than what awaits us on day four...
Still, we'll have an HC KoM sprint under the red kite - but whoever arrives first at this point should have great chances of taking home the stage as well - and hence being our first race leader!
Before the race finally kicks off, let's take a look at the bookies' favorites for today's stage. Without any surprise, they list Pluchkin on top. A bit more surprising is however to see Wellens and Cattaneo given three stars as well, while local hero Denifl only makes it to the second category, together with Eastman and Carthy. It seems as if they valued high resistance more than pure climbing skills. The list is then completed by Henao Montoya, Uran, Guldhammer and luxury domestique Intxausti - let's see if he'll get the freedom to fight for a stage result on his own.
It's a beautiful day here in Tyrol, where the riders have taken their start positions. But don't be fooled - some of them won't be happy with the weather! There is actually quite a lot of wind, blowing from East to West with up to 30km/h. More precisely, this means that they will have tailwind up the climb to Axams - as well as for most of the final climb. But we'll have full headwind on the flat part leading back from Kematen to Innsbruck - from the intermediate sprint to the start line. Let's see if that has an impact on the racing.
The race is on, and already on the first flat kilometers - there are just about two of them before the first climb - we have Higuita launching the first attack of the race.
However, Lilovski and Fouche don't want him to be all alone up front, so they try to join him soon after.
And Hughes is about to leave the peloton behind as well, where we can't see any reaction yet.
Let's take a quick look at the profile of the climb leading up to Axams, before the riders will tackle it for the first out of six times. Although it's only 3km long - or short - average gradients of almost 10% will clearly hurt some riders right from the first ascent!
While Hughes and Fouche are catching up with Higuita, Lilovski is already struggling to keep up with them! But if the pack doesn't chase right away, the pace up front should drop soon, allowing him to stay there as well.
However, the pack DOES chase - or rather Repsol - Netflix are doing so. Rodriguez and Mosca are riding a high pace - have they missed the breakaway move? Or do they just want to tire out their opponents right from the start? Having no serious GC contenders on their team, it might be the former.
The leading trio has reached the KoM banner for the first time - however, points will only be distributed after the 3rd and 5th ascent. Lilovski already trails by 48" and doesn't look too well, while the pack is 1'33" down.
Repsol - Netflix are really being serious about their chase, with Rodriguez, Mosca, Pedrero, Barbero and Meeus participating. Roson is at the end of the line - are they doing all this work for him?
Meanwhile, the last riders have just finished the ascent - and we already have a left-behind trio, consisting of Robert, Ostergaard and Schomber. If they can't make the catch on the descent, it will be a very, very long and tough day for them - maybe even the time limit might threaten them!
The leaders then reach the first intermediate sprint, with Higuita easily taking maximum points:
Lilovski had almost closed the gap on the downhill, but he seems to be done and is now quickly falling back. The pack, still 1'35" behind the leaders, will probably catch him soon.
So let's suppose this trio actually is our breakaway of the day. As it's pretty clear that climbing skills will matter most today, Hughes should easily be the strongest of them - and he's the best puncheur as well. Higuita is slightly weaker on both mountains and hills, and Fouche will definitely struggle keeping up on the uphills. But let's see if the pack finally relents and lets the gap grow!
Well, it doesn't look so. Valter has just reeled in Lilovski, even before the end of the first lap - you can see the start line to the right. The gap is down to 1'21" - let's see if they continue pushing.
That's the end of the first lap - and the end of the headwind section, which the leaders will definitely be okay with! The pack is however reducing the gap second by second!
Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy, but Fouche is indeed the first of the leading trio who can't keep up anymore - leaving only Hughes and Higuita up front. The peloton, still led by the raging Repsol - Netflix guys, trails by 1'10", while Fouche is already 23" behind the front duo as well.
And without any surprise, once his engine stalled, Fouche was quickly reeled in. Rodriguez is pulling the pack uphill at a high pace - let's see where that leads! At the moment, the leaders are still 1'04" ahead.
But we actually have to say THE leader, as Hughes has now left behind Higuita, showing that he indeed is the strongest. But with the pack just a minute behind, let's see how much that actually is worth.
By the way, he still doesn't gain any KoM points, as those will be at stake only one lap later.
And just to get an idea of the gaps that might occur today - group Robert is already more than 5 minutes behind!
Oh well, when talking about left-behinds... Ciolek is now among them, too, together with Verona. A time trialist and a sprinter - no surprise.
Further ahead, we can see former attacker Lilovski already, right ahead of Flaksis. And another strong time trialist in Goldstein has been dropped as well - if that high pace continues, it's really unlikely any of them will make it back!
On the headwind section, it's game over for Higuita, and Hughes only retains a lead of 42". 146 riders are in the pack right now, with no notable climbers being dropped.
Aaaah, here we finally go! Or more precisely, Roson goes! Just as the gap is small enough, the Spaniard attacks and will soon join Hughes.
Er, well... he didn't actually join the Canadian, but simply leave him behind. Roson is already one minute ahead of Hughes, and two ahead of the pack, where the pace has now dropped for obvious reasons.
Which means that he'll very likely claim the first KoM points of the race - 2.5km to go!
Scheit and Juodvalkis have now taken control in the pack - with both being pretty good on those short, steep uphills, they quickly close in on Hughes. However, Roson is the fastest man on the ascent, extending his lead to almost 3 minutes already.
And he indeed claims the first 6 KoM points of the race - however, there are 20 available on the final climb... Let's see if he can score there as well!
Poor Hughes fought bravely, but he's caught by Scheit a few meters from the KoM line. The German takes 2nd place up there, ahead of Juodvalkis:
The peloton is trailing Roson by 3'17" at this point, meaning they probably went uphill a tad slower than on the previous laps.
While Roson obviously picked up maximum points at the intermediate sprint, Steimle is the sole rider sprinting for 2nd place from the pack - and hence takes it.
The peloton has been quite a lot faster than Roson on the downhill, trailing only by 2'37" now!
It's a sprinter festival - behind the pack, obviously. Kupfernagel, Hodeg, Havik, Vaquera and Maksimov are all in this group, while Zabel has just lost contact as well. Let's hope all of them actually make the time limit - or we'll have very weird flat stages!
Roson is clearly disliking the headwind, as it's a great disadvantage for a solo rider compared to the pack. The gap has therefore dropped below two minutes as he starts the fourth lap!
And things are getting really serious in the pack now! Golovash is obviously not the best rider to set the pace uphill, but as he tires out it's Tanovitchii who takes over - really sprinting uphill!
All the big GC favorites are well positioned so far, let's hope none of them gets dropped because of being inattentive!
As Roson reaches the top - no points available this time - he doesn't look good anymore, and the peloton is just trailing by half a minute now! Scheit, Moazemi and Denz are doing a great job!
Zabel definitely won't catch up with the pack again today, and neither will all those who are even further back. Ostergaard, who is solo at the very end of the race, already trails by about 15 minutes, by the way.
A little later, Roson's adventure is over. No luck for attackers so far - will anyone else dare trying now? Two ascents to Axams are left, before the big final climb up to Kühtai. Which makes for a total of 65 kilometers - exactly 100km are done now!
Laas, Tanovitchii and Rikunov then lead the peloton on the second-last ascent, probably trying to get rid of Pluchkin's competitor's helpers!
There will be another KoM sprint on this lap, by the way - but it's unlikely that they're just going for points...
They got some help from Domagalski and Poljanski, who even take the first spots at the KoM sprint. Laas at least secures two points:
Two grupettos have formed by now, whereof Hughes is the strongest climber. Meaning that none of the really strong uphill specialists have been dropped so far.
For the last time, the riders turn right at this intersection - next time, they will head uphill, where they can already see the 20km banner. One full lap to go, that means.
Nobody is interested in the sprint points this time, so they just go to those who are up front right now:
But as we approach the final ascent to Axams, Team Popo4Ever are back at the front - and pretty much at full strength! Dzhus, Rikunov, Tanovitchii, Laas and Nitu are up front, Topchanyuk is protecting Pluchkin, and only Golovash is missing here. Let's see how much damage they will do!
Not much, actually, as other teams seem to be equally strong. We have many team leaders close to the front now, most of them being well protected:
Pluchkin
Topchanyuk
Denifl
Dees
Squire
Eastman
Cattaneo
Pomoshnikov
Wellens
Hacecky
Henao Montoya
Bartl
Uran
Champoussin
Carthy
Figueiredo
Martin
Russo
Abal
Rhim
Latour
Nych
Guldhammer
Favilli
Penasa
Bergstrom Frisk
Faiers
Phodingam
Areruya
Kipkemboi
De la Cruz
Konig
Someone we can't spot up front is local hero Preidler - is he having yet another horrible day?
Well, we can't really say - but we can say that the team strategy is ... surprising - the Austrian is actually at the back of the pack, taking food for his teammates! What a strange role for one of the best climbers in the peloton... But at least, he's still there, and not looking too bad!
Nothing worth noting finally happened on that uphill, so while the riders are descending, let's take a look at the profile of the final climb! While it's a really long one, and it ends above 2,000 meters above sea level, it's not a very hard climb. Especially the first half should be pretty easy - with the second half containing some steeper slopes. Let's hope for some fireworks then!
The riders have already started the ascent to Kühtai, with Bille leading the pack under the 20km banner ahead of Ahmad Zamri. 107 riders are still in the peloton, but that number will likely go down soon!
By the way, Preidler has taken a much better position by now, just a few spots behind Konig. Let's see if the Austrian can positively surprise us and his manager today!
There indeed is some damage already after the first three kilometers, with about a dozen riders dropped. Notable names are Fernandez, Matte, Lehtinen, Martinez or Juodvalkis, with Dzhus, Hasta and Pedrero being even further back. Only helpers, though.
17km to go for the head of the race, while Ostergaard is right at the foot of his last ascent to Axams, 28 minutes back! Robert and Ciolek are two minutes ahead of him.
While Carpenter has upped the pace even more, one rider after the other is dropping off the peloton's back. And we're starting to see some more important helpers in troubles, like Figueiredo, Ivanov, Borisavljevic or even Aular! Mat Senan had already let go earlier, so that's definitely not a good situation for Martin!
And neither for Guldhammer, of course, as he's pretty much all alone as well by now - but he surely expected that. 15 kilometers left!
Carpenter is still pushing hard, which finally opened a gap to Nitu, Aular, Domagalski, Suaza and Ivanov - quite a lot of unexpected names to be left behind so early!
We still haven't seen any attacks, but with the 10km mark, we now reach the steeper sections! Stancu and Bostner are now leading the pack that's continuing to thin out, being reduced to 68 riders. No strong climbers have been dropped lately, though, and Aular has even made it back - he probably just passed by the team car at the wrong moment.
There's a strong presence of Fablok riders up front, with already mentioned Bostner, Shapira and Hacecky right ahead of Wellens! Topchanyuk is meanwhile protecting Pluchkin, who's in the first 10 positions, too!
With the peloton still counting 59 riders, we can't really speak of carnage yet, but Squire is definitely a rider that shouldn't be dropped already! Poljanski is in this group as well, but he did some work earlier on the stage.
Although Stancu doesn't seem to be at full strength anymore, he is still pulling the pack - which is now reduced to just 33 riders! Let's take the stock:
Cattaneo
Stancu
Pomoshnikov
Pluchkin
Wellens
Latour
Uran
Guldhammer
Preidler
Konig
Henao Montoya
Aular
Bartl
Carthy
Eastman
Penasa
Dulanjana
Gebremedhin
Denifl
Intxausti
Areruya
Schleck
Min
Martin
De la Cruz
Nerz
Moazemi
Geniez
Denz
Abal
Jones
Faiers
Potocki
Within just a bit more than 3 kilometers, Wellens and Pluchkin have lost all their helpers, some of which are in a group 1'04" behind! There are Topchanyuk, Hacecky, Shapira and Bernard, but as well Nazaret and Dunne, Dees and Carpenter, Diaz, Maillet and Vinhas.
Another 40" further back is GCN Racing's best climber Pantano Gomez - but with him being an anti-TT rider, it's probably better for them to have Potocki up front anyway.
Only 4 kilometers to the finish line - and 3km to the KoM sprint! Still no attacks in the pack, still Stancu leading - not very fast, though, as Bernard has made it back in the meantime! However, he's close to the end of this group, so he can't really help his leader Wellens.
We can clearly see several riders in difficulties, so it will be a matter of time until they'll drop - but let's hope we'll finally get some attacks as well!
We're inside the section where the road is framed by publicity banners - the last 3 kilometers! Wellens and Pluchkin have now come to the front - but neither actually dares launching an attack. Nor does any other rider - but they should, if they want to win this stage, or even gain a few seconds!
Behind the leading duo, we have Denifl and Intxausti - let's see if these two top climbers can play their numbers to get the stage win!
They are followed by Carthy, and then we have Aular - Henao Montoya, Penasa - Gebremedhin and Pomoshnikov - Cattaneo. The Italian is followed by Guldhammer, Eastman and Uran, while the remaining riders are on the other side of the road.
7 riders have been dropped lately: Denz, Moazemi and Geniez - leaving still two teammates up front! - Dulanjana, Schleck, Jones and Bartl. Which means that we still have 27 riders in contention for the stage win!
500 meters later, it doesn't look very good anymore for Preidler, who has to let go of Konig! Latour, Martin, Uran and Eastman are right ahead of the Czech, who likely once again will lead his team, despite not being the strongest climber on paper.
We can as well see that Henao Montoya is struggling to keep Aular's wheel! Pluchkin is now pulling the group, but he's surely not going full gas yet!
Among the team leaders, we're mainly missing Faiers, Areruya and former winner Abal in the first positions - they're even behind Preidler, actually!
At least, Konig is still in contention, but at the very end of the head of the race now counting just 19 riders! Let's see who's still in contention for the stage win with 2 kilometers to go:
Cattaneo
Pomoshnikov
Pluchkin
Wellens
Bernard
Latour
Uran
Guldhammer
Konig
Henao Montoya
Carthy
Eastman
Penasa
Gebremedhin
Denifl
Intxausti
Martin
De la Cruz
Nerz
1,000 meters to the KoM sprint, 2,000m to the finish! And the steepest slopes are done, so we'll likely have a reduced bunch sprint - can those who still have a teammate with them make use of their great situation?
But for now, we just have Pluchkin doing Pluchkin things - riding uphill so fast that no-one else can attack!
Behind the first group, we can see that De la Cruz has just been dropped! Meanwhile, Areruya and Faiers are trying to come back to the front!
No, that's not the finish line yet - it's at the same time the HC KoM sprint and the "Teufelslappen", the Flamme Rouge! Pluchkin will definitely not show his B-World-Champion jersey tomorrow, as he'll be wearing the KoM jersey - or even the yellow one?
Wellens and Denifl are closely following the Moldovan, taking 2nd and 3rd at this KoM sprint. Here are the full points:
Which already tells you who are the biggest favorites for the stage win, as those who are futher back will struggle making good more than 10 positions on the final kilometer!
With 800m to go, Pluchkin is still leading, while local hero Denifl has taken his wheel and should have a great chance of getting the stage win - and the leader jersey - in his home tour!
Wellens is still looking good as well, while Cattaneo already has to leave a small gap. Penasa, Guldhammer and Eastman are one bike length further down and should really start sprinting now if they want that win!
It really seems to be among these three for the stage win, with Denifl having left Pluchkin's slipstream with 500m to go - and closing in! Wellens is still comfortably in 3rd place, while Cattaneo - not the best puncheur - is losing more and more ground!
Penasa and Guldhammer are riding faster than Eastman - which is no surprise, with these two having the strongest acceleration of all those riders up front!
400 meters to the line! Pluchkin - Denifl - Wellens is still the order up front, but Guldhammer has now overtaken Cattaneo, moving up to 4th! Penasa and Eastman are next, followed by Henao Montoya and Nerz.
We have a similar image 100m later - 300m to go! Latour is the last man in this group - meaning that especially Uran and Carthy are having a disappointing day!
But can Pluchkin pull that one through, or will someone finally outsprint him?
It's getting closer and closer now, with Denifl now being faster than Pluchkin! But beware of Guldhammer, who has now launched his turbo mode and is quickly closing in on the leading trio!
100 meters remain - and we have a duel for the win, it seems! Denifl is almost level with Pluchkin, being as close as possible to a great home win here! Can he pull it off?
Meanwhile, Wellens needs to find something special to fend off Guldhammer, who is clearly faster - or can the Dane even challenge the leading duo for the win?
50 meters to the line, and we have a dead even race! Denifl or Pluchkin? Home win for Austria or business as usual?
And there's yet another dead even race, namely for 3rd! Wellens or Guldhammer?
Oh, it was so close for Stefan Denifl - but well, the unbeatable wins once again - Aleksandr Pluchkin is the winner of stage one, the first GC leader, the first points leader, the first KoM leader - fortunately, he isn't U25 anymore! But even a decline doesn't keep him from winning in Austria - congratulations!
And pretty much as expected, 3rd place goes to Rasmus Guldhammer! He wasn't very well placed with 1km to go, else he could have been fighting for the stage win - but he'll surely gladly take that podium! Tim Wellens finally has to settle for 4th, after he and his team did a great job on that final climb. Well, tomorrow he'll have another chance!
Behind these four, we have Penasa, Cattaneo and Eastman fighting for 5th - with the US American having to ride through some leaves hanging down on the road!
We don't know if it were these leaves that slowed him down, but Ryan Eastman has to settle for 7th, behind Pierre Paolo Penasa and Mattia Cattaneo.
But most importantly for them, no time gaps are given, meaning they only lose the bonus seconds on the top three!
This holds as well for Sergio Luis Henao Montoya and Pierre Latour, who finish neck-and-neck on 8th and 9th place. Dominik Nerz rounds off today's Top 10, after having been dropped on the closing meters. 22" is the time gap given for him - a bit unfortunate, surely!
Wow, Areruya actually had a great finish, climbing all the way up to 11th! He's easily the best young rider today, taking the first white jersey of the race - and possibly not handing it over to anyone later on.
Gebremedhin shows an impressive race as well, finishing 12th, ahead of Intxausti (hidden by the leaves). These three lose 50" today.
Konig crosses the line 1'03" after today's winner, along with a very disappointed Carthy. Let's see if the latter can take his revenge tomorrow!
Pomoshnikov and Martin are inside this group as well.
When speaking of disappointment - Uran only takes 18th place today, 1'17" later than Pluchkin! With all those good climbers and time trialists up front, it's hard to see him repeat his GC result from last year now - but maybe he'll strike back tomorrow?
Min then is next on the finish line, being the 2nd strongest U25 rider - pretty much as expected. Abal then rounds off the Top 20 - a disappointing result for him as well.
But not as disappointing as it is for Preidler, who only gets 26th place today, losing 3'21"! Let's hope he can at least pull off one good result on the hillier stages in his home tour!
However, he'll have to wait for day 4 to have a hilltop finish. For now, let's rather focus on the Austrian who did well today - although he just missed out on a great win.
Because today's winner is - just like last year on the same stage - Aleksandr Pluchkin! Although not winning in a dominant way, but rather in a very, very close race against Stefan Denifl, he still stands on top by the end of day one. Rasmus Guldhammer secured 3rd place with a great late push.
Of course, the Moldovan not only won the stage, but he leads in the GC and the points standings as well - the order corresponds to the stage result.
In the KoM standings, we have Tim Wellens on 2nd and Stefan Denifl on 3rd place, as the HC KoM sprint was taken one kilometer from the finish line. By the way, today's 3rd placed Guldhammer only was 8th at that point, showing what might have been possible with a better positioning...
But we still get to see someone else on the podium today, as Joseph Areruya is the first leader in the U25 standings! As expected, he was the strongest of the young riders - but only 27" ahead of Kyeng Ho Min, who showed a very strong race as well! Orluis Aular, unlike the two others, isn't his team's leader, so he had to do some work - and therefore lost more time. He trails by 1'56", but is still two minutes ahead of Schleck in 4th place.
They may not have had a real chance for the stage win, with their leader Cattaneo not being the best puncheur - but MOL still are the best team after day one. They lead 59" ahead of DK - SVA Zalgiris and Valio - Viking Genetics - let's see if they can defend their lead tomorrow!
And that's all for today. Unfortunately, we didn't get the attacks we had hoped for on this final climb - and in the end, the outcome was as it often was in the past: Pluchkin won. The winner of the last two editions is already leading the race, and he has a strong team by his side that should be able to defend this jersey. Let's see if anyone can beat him tomorrow - stay tuned!
By the way, all the riders made the time limit - although Ostergaard did so with only 3 minutes to spare! So everyone will tackle tomorrow's stage - and I hope you will again be with us, too!
Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt 
