Welcome back to Innsbruck, ladies and gentlemen, from where the riders will soon start to stage number two!
As yesterday, we'll have a mountain-top finish today, but this time with an easier rest of the stage. In fact, the first 60km will be almost completely flat - and even slightly descending on average - until we reach the first intermediate sprint in Kirchbichl.
From there, we will have two consecutive hills within just a few kilometer, as the riders will sprint for 3rd category KoM points in Itter after 67 kilometers, with a category 4 sprint just 6km later in Hopfgarten.
We'll then soon reach the surroundings of Kitzbühel, where the riders will do two and a half laps before the final ascent. At the first passage in Kitzbühel, there will be the second intermediate sprint of the stage, after 106 kilometers. 55 kilometers will be remaining from there - whereof about 45 slightly undulating.
And then, the dessert awaits the riders - the final climb up to Kitzbüheler Horn. The riders won't go all the way up, as the finish line is at the "Alpenhaus", at about 1,700m above sea level. But with the climb containing sections with slopes of way beyond 10%, this one is still much harder than yesterday's final ascent!
So it's definitely a stage for the climbers - and who says climber says Pluchkin first of all. The Moldovan was the strongest on this stage last year - but still lost the stage to a breakaway rider by a few seconds. After yesterday's stage win, we definitely can expect him to be among the strongest again - but who are his main competitors?
According to the bookmakers, he'll mainly have to fight against Wellens and Eastman - both did really well yesterday, just like Cattaneo and Denifl, who get two stars. This holds as well for Uran, who will surely want to strike back after yesterday's big loss. Carthy was disappointing as well, while Latour, Henao Montoya and especially Guldhammer did a good job - these four round off the list.
But many more could win this stage - especially if a breakaway gets through, as last year. And local hero Preidler surely wants to get a better result than yesterday - can he do it? We'll soon find out!
The riders are ready to definitely leave Innsbruck behind. It's a pretty sunny day, so everything is set for a great stage! Let's go!
And right at the exit of Innsbruck, we get the first attacks! We can spot Hänninen, Kipkemboi, Gallego Martin and Peak up front. The latter surely has the perfect name for a mountaintop finish - although I don't know how it's actually pronounced in Hungarian.
We can't quite make out whether these riders are attacking or chasing - probably it's a bit of both. Salvadorian champion Herrera leads them, ahead of local talent Gall, Lawless, Rodriguez, Juodvalkis, Nych, Pedrero and Scheit.
Indeed, some were attacking, and the others finally couldn't hold them back! We have Gall, Herrera, Lawless, Scheit and Nych chasing the four leaders now - 25" ahead of the pack, 24" behind the front. Not a very comfortable situation yet!
However, Juodvalkis has now clearly slowed down - and the Repsol - Netflix boys are completely gone. Weird strategy...
After 20 kilometers, the nine frontrunners have merged into a single group. And with their gap of now 2'45", they surely are our breakaway of the day.
However, some might have chosen the wrong stage to attack; in fact, none of them is worthy to be called a climber, with Scheit being the strongest of all having a mountain stat of just 72. He's however a pretty good puncheur - let's see if he can use that to his advantage on the two mid-stage KoM sprints!
Lawless is quite strong on the hills as well, but he's among the group's weakest on the mountains. Herrera is the second best climber, ahead of flat beast Nych and local youngster Gall.
Kipkemboi and Peak are next, while Gallego Martin and Hänninen definitely won't enjoy the final climb.
But with no real climber being in this group, it's rather unlikely that they'll make it to the line - except if the pack gives them a tremendous advantage. With Scheit being the best placed rider in the GC, almost 10 minutes down, none of them should seriously endanger Pluchkin's jersey, though.
The pack is really not worried yet, setting a rather low pace. It's the helpers of the main GC candidates taking command: Goldstein, Hodeg, Golovash, Zabel, Maksimov, Vaquera and Juodvalkis - quite some sprinters working on the flat. The time limit shouldn't worry them today, as they're likely to stay inside the pack until the start of the final ascent.
Besides the gap going up and up, nothing happens on the next flat kilometers, and so the escapees already arrive at the intermediate sprint. They don't seem to be interested in the points, though, with Kipkemboi just happening to take the maximum:
1. Kipkemboi - 6
2. Herrera - 4
3. Scheit - 2
They will soon reach the foot of the first hill, while the peloton still has a pretty long way to go until this point.
The KoM sprint in Itter will offer 3rd category points, more precisely 6, 4 and 2, for the first three riders on top. It's a short and rather easy one - perfect for the better puncheurs?
As soon as the roads really start rising - as seen before, the steepest inclines are right after the start of the climb - Gall already starts pushing hard. He's surely motivated in his home tour, but to arrive first on top, it's maybe a bit early to launch already now.
Meanwhile, Hodeg leads the pack as they arrive at the intermediate sprint as well. Their deficit has grown to 10'16" - meaning Scheit is the virtual race leader by now!
Of course, this advantage won't be enough for the German to really claim the race lead - but should they still be ten minutes ahead when starting the final climb - who knows...
Gall is still leading the front group with 800m to the top. Lawless has the perfect position to take these points - let's see if he can do so!
By the way, only Scheit has picked up some points yesterday, while leading the pack's chase. However, to have a chance of taking the jersey, the group would have to make it to the line.
But first, there's another line - one that is crossed first by Lawless, narrowly outsprinting Peak. Scheit picks up the last points.
This makes move up Lawless and Scheit to shared 6th place in the KoM standings.
And while the pack has just started the first climb, the breakaway will soon tackle the second one up to Hopfgarten. It's even shorter than the first one, yet a tad steeper on average. But still an easy one overall.
Wow, look at this! The whole village - and probably many more - must be alongside the roads here, giving the riders kind of a GT mountain stage feeling! Who will be motivated by them to claim the points on top? Scheit already launches his sprint as soon as they reach the uphill!
And surprise, surprise - he pulls it through! Lawless comes second this time, having had a rather bad position at the start of the hill.
Nych, Gallego Martin and Hänninen are dropped on this hill, but they'll make their way back on the next few kilometers.
And the peloton? Well, they're still not hurrying at all. Hodeg does most of the work, leading them over the top of the first hill 11'58" behind the breakaway - the pack lost almost two minutes on that climb!
And it's even worse - or even better for the escapees - as Pokälä crosses the line in Hopfgarten with a 12'46" deficit! His team must have decided that Hänninen is too weak anyway, else he shouldn't be leading!
80 kilometers still to go - if the pack doesn't want to give the win to the breakaway like they did last year, they really should start closing that gap now!
And yet another team seems to sabotage their breakaway riders, as Garcia Cortina is pushing quite hard! But well, we saw that both Polar riders were dropped on an easy hill, so it's understandable that they'll rather focus on Latour now.
And the gap is indeed shrinking, having gone down by 90" within 5 kilometers!
The front group has arrived in Kitzbühel, where we see the start of the final climb up to Kitzbüheler Horn - but there are still two laps to go until they'll actually turn left here!
But the second interemdiate sprint is right ahead - on top of a small hill.
Whether it was that slight uphill or the points that made the riders sprint this time, we don't know. But we do know that Scheit gets maximum points:
Meanwhile, it looks like Uran is striving for revenge! Three Minions are currently leading the pack: Hodeg, Bjerg and Flaksis. They have brought down the deficit to 9 minutes - 50 kilometers are left!
One lap later, the men with suspenders have further intensified the chase, adding Champoussin and Albert - but to not much avail! The gap has only shrunk by 40" on these 20 kilometers, hence still being above 8 minutes! With 25 kilometers to go, that will be a hard piece of work for the strong climbers, if they want to catch the escapees!
The breakaway riders only have 20 kilometers left now, and are still collaborating really well! A bit less than 10km to the start of the final climb - let's see if that advantage will suffice!
That one will hurt! 12 kilometers with almost 10% of average slopes, and without any easier section - the riders will soon be in the red zone, just like the profile!
And here we go! Scheit leads the escapees into the first slopes of the climb up to Kitzbüheler Horn - let's see if he can capitalize on his slightly superior climbing skills compared to the others - or if the top climbers will still catch them!
Gall is highly motivated for sure - maybe over-motivated? He immediately launches the first attack, pulling just Herrera and Nych with him! Scheit is currently waiting, well knowing about the length and difficulty of that mountain - he'll still have plenty of time to get back, even without wasting his energy on the initial slopes.
But Gall only has one goal: shaking everyone off! After the pace was too high for Nych, only Herrera is now staying with the young Austrian! What a race that would be for him if he can pull it through!
9 minutes later - yeah, they have again lost some time - Cuban champion Martinez leads the pack into this climb as well. Gaining 9 minutes on 12 kilometers seems like a really hard task - but given the steepness, it might still be possible for the top climbers to win that stage!
All of the top GC contenders seem to be well positioned, with Areruya, Faiers and De la Cruz being the worst placed around 50th position.
Gall has finally stopped sprinting, and as Herrera didn't want to keep the pace that high, Nych has been able to come back. Peak is currently setting the pace in the chasing group - already 1'35" behind, though!
The peloton is still clocked at 9 minutes, they haven't even gained a single second so far! And only 9 kilometers are left!
And now it's even Nych attacking, thereby dropping Herrera! Gall is able to keep the Russian's wheel, while the chasers have gained back a few seconds in the meantime.
We can clearly see that the pace isn't really high in the peloton, still led by Martinez - and Zabel in 3rd position...
Wellens, Denifl, Martin and race leader Pluchkin are the best positioned top climbers right now, with Carthy and Nerz nearby, too.
Scheit is off! The German has come to the conclusion that his companions don't have what it takes to get the leading trio back, so he attacks this group with 8 kilometers to go.
Up front, Herrera has almost caught up with Nych and Gall again - these three are playing yo-yo.
But as soon as the Salvadorian champion is back, Gall attacks again, looking to finally go solo!
However, Scheit is closing in pretty fast now, having reduced the gap to under a minute already!
Further down the road, we rather have to speak of "just under ten minutes", as the peloton is still losing seconds to the breakaway! Martinez seemingly can't go any faster, so that stage win seems to be out of reach for the top climbers today!
Pluchkin doesn't really seem to care - it's not too bad for him if there aren't any bonus seconds available for his strongest competitors. Wellens, Denifl, Martin, Carthy, Nerz, Henao Montoya, Guldhammer, Latour, Cattaneo, Penasa, Eastman, Preidler, Konig, Areruya, Uran are all there, with De la Cruz, Pantano Gomez and Abal a bit further behind. Which is true as well for Min, Areruya's main U25 opponent.
When speaking of Uran, we can see that his presumed top domestique Ivanov is already quite some positions behind his leader - he didn't do any work, yet he's already done...
With just a little less than 6 kilometers to go, Scheit has already caught up with Nych, with the next chasing group being 2 minutes behind!
35" ahead is Gall, who's still riding a few meters ahead of Herrera. But Scheit is looking really good to catch both of them soon!
Here's the aforementioned chasing group, consisting of Lawless, Kipkemboi, Peak, Gallego Martin and Hänninen. The four stronger climbers are ahead, as expected - but this quintet still has slightly more than 6 minutes on the peloton as well!
Just under the 5km banner, Scheit is about to make the catch! Herrera has meanwhile reeled in Gall once again, while Nych couldn't keep Scheit's wheel. The Russian has to hope that the pace slows down up front once Scheit has definitely caught up!
But even if they do, the chasers very likely won't make it back again, still trailing by more than 2'30".
And the pack? 8'39". Yeah, they're slightly faster than the leaders now. But they won't take the stage win - except if someone can fly up this mountain.
They do come a little bit closer, but as Martinez - still him - leads them under the 5km arc, the gap is still 7'30". They'd need to ride 90" faster per kilometer to catch the leaders - which seems to be rather unlikely, to be honest!
By the way, some riders have been dropped from the pack, but obviously no big climbers yet.
While the stage win already seemed to be out of reach anyway, Hänninen now has to bid goodbye to a potential Top 5 result as well. Let's see if he can at least make it ahead of the pack - which trails these riders by a little less than 4 minutes now. The gap to the front has however gone up to more than 3 minutes.
If they had time, Scheit, Herrera and Gall could enjoy the view down on Kitzbühel - but obviously they've got other things in mind! 3 kilometers to go - and one of them will very likely add a win on a tough mountain stage to his palmarès!
Aaah, we finally get some action back in the pack! 3.5km to go for them - 2 kilometers for the leaders - as Henao Montoya makes the first move!
Martin, Areruya, Latour, Penasa, Guldhammer, Uran, Wellens, Pluchkin and Nerz is the order in the queue behind, with Cattaneo, Abal, Min, Carthy, Pantano Gomez, Faiers, Denifl, Eastman, Preidler and Konig not responding immediately, but sitting in the first positions of the pack.
Things do look somewhat worse for De la Cruz, Potocki, Aular and especially Gebremedhin, though, as they're caught behind in a major split!
Up front, nobody seems to have enough energy left to attack, and Gall even looks pretty tired by now! We said it before, Scheit and Herrera are the strongest climbers - but can the Austrian capitalize on the home soil advantage?
Henao Montoya has faded, and now it's Areruya taking over and trying to sprint away! Martin first has to close that small gap that Henao Montoya is leaving now!
Latour, Penasa, Guldhammer, Uran, Pluchkin, Wellens and Nerz still are the first chasers, while Denifl senses the danger of gaps opening and tries to move up, having already passed Cattaneo!
Areruya really seems to be the strongest here, as Henao Montoya isn't able to follow! Martin stays cool and doesn't respond immediately, while Latour has to ride around Hänninen, who was just caught.
And we even seem to have a small gap opening behind Penasa, as Guldhammer couldn't quite keep up! Uran, Pluchkin and Wellens are with the Dane, and these four have a small advantage on Nerz as well!
Denifl, Cattaneo, Carthy, Eastman, Pantano Gomez, Abal, Konig and Min are next, while De la Cruz has now caught up with Preidler.
Faiers however isn't looking good at all, having dropped behind several helpers of other teams!
Meanwhile, it's game over for Gallego Martin as well, who had to let go of Lawless, Kipkemboi and Peak! These three are 1'41" behind Nych, and almost 3 minutes behind the leaders - and just 2'10" ahead of Areruya now! Can they hold on and finish ahead of the now fast-moving pack?
Last kilometer for Scheit, Gall and Herrera! Leading by a minute ahead of Nych - and a few minutes more on the pack - we can safely say that the stage winner will come from this trio - but who has got most left?
Apparently, Areruya somewhat overestimated his strength, as Henao Montoya finally closes the gap! Martin is still in 3rd position, followed by Latour, Penasa, Wellens, Guldhammer, Pluchkin and Uran.
The other riders in this first group are Nerz, Denifl, Cattaneo, Carthy, Eastman, Abal, Min, breakaway rider Hänninen, Pantano Gomez, Preidler, Pomoshnikov, Intxausti and Squire.
Herrera has now drawn level with Scheit, but none of these riders is sprinting yet. 800 meters still to go - a long way on roads with a 10% gradient! Fortunately for them, the final meters will be slightly flatter.
Henao Montoya really seems to have a great engine today, as he continues to diesel up this steep mountain! Gallego Martin is about to be caught, while Areruya is losing one position after the other! Hopefully he doesn't crack completely!
Further behind, we see that there's a gap opening behind Min, with Intxausti and Preidler being unable to follow!
500 meters to the line, and the leaders are now launching their sprints! Scheit is still in the pole position, but will have the longest way around this final corner! Gall is moving up, having already overtaken Herrera - can he really claim a home win here on Kitzbüheler Horn?
But let's first switch back, as things are really falling apart now! Preidler definitely had to let go of Intxausti, who is trying to catch up with Min again!
More importantly, however, Henao Montoya's steady but high pace has allowed him to break free along with Martin, Latour, Wellens and Pluchkin!
Denifl and Nerz are the first chasers, while Uran - whose team did a huge amount of work today - doesn't seem to be able to respond! Nor do Cattaneo, Penasa, Guldhammer or any of the others - or are they just bluffing?
300 meters to go for the race leaders - and it's still Scheit up front! Herrera and Gall are neck-and-neck, but the German currently has the edge - can he pull it through? Or can local hero Gall strike back?
Wellens is now trying to capitalize on Henao Montoya's great work, having taken the lead! Pluchkin is very attentive, well knowing whom he has to pay attention to!
Meanwhile, Nerz and Denifl have managed to close the gap, pulling the rest of the group with them.
Min is dropping off at the back, and is about to be caught by Intxausti now. But let's get an overview of who's still in this group:
Wellens
Pluchkin
Latour
Henao Montoya
Gallego Martin
Martin
Denifl
Nerz
Uran
Carthy
Cattaneo
Penasa
Eastman
Areruya
Abal
Guldhammer
Especially the last three don't look good at all - while Areruya probably overpowered earlier on, it's rather a surprise to see Guldhammer struggling! Abal already had a bad day yesterday, let's hope he at least can somehow hold on today!
But this as well means that we're already missing quite some riders who did well yesterday:
Gebremedhin (12th) Intxausti (13th) Konig (14th) Pomoshnikov (16th) Min (19th)
None of the riders who finished outside the Top 20 are up front today, though, so those named here might not even lose that many positions.
We're close to the finish line - and Scheit really seems to take it! Gall is out of contention - still having shown a great race, that will be rewarded with a stage podium - but Herrera hasn't thrown in the towel yet and might capitalize on the shorter path to the line!
But the Salvadorian can't close the gap, and so it's Florian Scheit who celebrates an amazing win up here on Kitzbüheler Horn! He was the strongest "climber" of the group - and he played it very well! Congratulations!
Second place goes to Erick Herrera, who - unlike the stage winner - decided to follow Felix Gall's early move - maybe it was the energy spent to keep up with the Austrian that finally was missing in the end.
And for said Felix Gall, it's of course heartbreaking to be so close to a win on home soil - but a stage podium on this tough stage is really more than what he could ever have dreamed about! And he surely has learned a lot about strategy today.
By the way, these two riders lose 13" and 37" on the stage winner.
But who's next? Can the chasers keep the peloton at bay? Or will the strongest climber take the next spots?
Well, it might be close! Wellens shows a great performance today, as only Pluchkin is able to follow him! Denifl tries to close the gap that has just opened, but he's having a really hard time doing so!
Nerz, Latour, Carthy, Uran, Henao Montoya, Penasa, Cattaneo, Eastman, Martin and Gallego Martin are with the Austrian - while Guldhammer, Areruya and Abal have just been dropped and are about to be caught by Intxausti and Min!
Just as Wellens and Pluchkin are passing Lawless, Carthy is launching his turbo engine and sprinting away from Nerz and Denifl!
These two have themselves opened a small gap to Uran, Latour, Penasa, Henao Montoya, Eastman, Martin and Cattaneo, while former breakaway rider Gallego Martin has finally been dropped from this group, too.
Up front, it however looks as if Peak and Kipkemboi might fend off the top climbers and take 5th and 6th on the stage!
After he was dropped by stage winner Scheit, Artem Nych rode a very lonely race on this final climb, in the end securing 4th place of the stage. Surely a good result for the Russian, even though he might be disappointed about having missed out on a podium.
He loses 2'09".
Peak and Kipkemboi really seem to be on their way to 5th and 6th, but Wellens and Pluchkin are quickly closing in!
And Carthy is showing a stunning last kilometer as well, having simply left behind Denifl and Nerz - who are both showing a great race, too, nota bene!
Let's see if Lawless can actually hang on to a Top 10 - he'd have to keep Denifl behind him to do so, though...
Barnabas Peak and Salim Kipkemboi do indeed manage to finish ahead of the big guns Wellens and Pluchkin, who therefore are fighting for 7th and 8th only! The clock stops at 2'34" for them.
Further behind, we can see that Carthy is finally fading a bit - can Denifl even close that gap? The Austrian however first has to pass Lawless. Nerz is still doing well, too, staying clear of many stronger climbers!
Tim Wellens outsprints Aleksandr Pluchkin for 8th - however, it's questionable if the latter had taken it just as easy as well if the stage win had been at stake!
The race leader followed his strongest competitor today, and hence was always in control - no time lost, some time gained on most of the other contenders, and still the time trial as a joker - things are going well for the Moldovan!
Both lose 2'50" on the stage - with winner Scheit trailing by more than 9 minutes pre-stage, they can easily afford this loss.
Hugh Carthy was the 3rd strongest rider from the peloton today, gaining some time on almost everyone. He finishes 3'24" behind Scheit, in 9th place.
Local hero Stefan Denifl then makes it two Austrians in the Top 10 - which didn't sound that improbable pre-stage, but we'd rather expect Preidler to be the second one, and surely not Gall...
He loses 10" on Carthy, and 44" on Pluchkin and Wellens - especially the former seems to be gone, having the TT in his favor, too. But with the time gained today on many stronger time trialists, the Austrian might really have a chance for a GC podium in his home tour!
Dominik Nerz then outsprints Christopher Lawless on the final meters. Both lose 3'41" - and the German will surely move up in the overall standings after yesterday's small time loss, let's see by how much!
Almost his whole team had to work hard today - and all Uran gets out of this stage is a 14th place (yeah, Eastman is ranked ahead of him, don't ask me why), losing 4'09" on the winner and 1'19" on Wellens and Pluchkin. After he already lost a lot of time yesterday, it's going to be really hard to repeat last year's great result, where he came 2nd overall.
Inside this same group, we have, taking 15th to 20th, Latour, Penasa, Henao Montoya, Cattaneo, Martin and - Intxausti! Yes, the Spaniard did a great job on the final kilometers to catch up with this group, hence preserving his great GC position, too!
The feelings will be pretty different for Abal, Areruya and especially yesterday's 3rd Guldhammer! They concede almost two minutes to Wellens, or in other terms 4'38" to today's winner!
Nonetheless, with Areruya finishing ahead of Min once again, he easily defends his white (actually pink) jersey and even extends his lead.
Here we have Min, taking 24th place and losing exactly 30" on Areruya. Gallego Martin is next, ahead of Preidler - who was the stronger clibmer of his team today, but if you only get 26th place, that doesn't mean a lot...
In fact, it was a very bad day for Konig - who did the worst job of yesterday's Top 15 today, taking 38th place with a 6'14" deficit. Pantano Gomez only finished half a minute further ahead, though, while Faiers and yesterday's surprise Gebremedhin were in the same group as the Czech.
We'll take a look at the updated GC later on - but now let's first cheer on today's stage winner!
Ladies and gentlemen, please applaud Florian Scheit! Together with his 8 breakaway companions, the German built up an advantage on the peloton that was large enough to stay clear until the line - and then he simply was the strongest and moreover played it really well! Being the weakest climber of his team didn't keep him from winning on top of Kitzbüheler Horn - congratulations!
Today's runner-up is Salvadorian champion Erick Herrera. He showed a great performance as well, but finally didn't have enough energy left to give the German a fight until the very end. Still, well done!
And in 3rd place, we have local talent Felix Gall! He clearly was the most active rider on the final climb - which on one hand allowed him to get clear of most others, but on the other hand may have cost a bit too much energy to really fight for the stage win. Maybe he'll get that one in the future?
Aleksandr Pluchkin is still our race leader, as he conceded time to no other rider except for some escapees. He was the boss on the final climb, simply following all the important moves - well done!
He currently has a 20" lead ahed of Tim Wellens, who may have been the strongest rider today - but it just wasn't enough to get rid of the yellow jersey. Still, today's performance surely allows him to fight for a GC podium, if he can hang on on the remaining non-flat stages!
Stefan Denifl drops from 2nd to 3rd, as he couldn't quite keep up with the aforementioned duo. He's now trailing by 52" - meaning he'd need something extraordinary to overtake the Moldovan, given the latter's great time trialing skills. On the other hand, he's got a 41" advantage to Nerz in 4th place, and 47" to the top time trialists Eastman and Cattaneo. Is this enough to defend that podium spot? Or can he gain a few more seconds on the hilltop finishes? We'll see - in each case, it remains a wide open race for the podium spots - probably once more behind Pluchkin, though!
And Aleksandr Pluchkin still leads the points standings as well - however, it's now a tied lead together with Florian Scheit, as both total 33 points!
And we have a tie as well for 3rd place, with Stefan Denifl and Erick Herrera trailing the leaders by 7 points.
Florian Scheit then steps onto the podium for the second time, as he's our new KoM leader! The 7 points he gained on the two minor hills today are exactly the gap he now has on Aleksandr Pluchkin, who has 24 points. Tim Wellens follows in 3rd place, totalling 19 points so far.
Joseph Areruya didn't play his cards very well today. After he got a small gap, he finally cracked and went on to lose a lot of time and GC spots - but as he's still U25, this probably is part of the learning process.
Nonetheless, he again had the highest finish of the "serious" contenders for this jersey (6 breakaway riders finished ahead of him, though), therefore extending his lead. Kyeng Ho Min now trails by 57", while Orluis Aular in 3rd place is already more than 5 minutes behind. It's indeed the expected duel on top!
But it's an even closer fight for 3rd, as Schleck and Dulanjana only trail Aular by a single second...
And it was truly a great day for Kraftwerk Man Machine, as they move up to the top of the team standings! The great win by Scheit surely was the decisive factor, but Nerz' strong showing was important as well.
The Germans now lead 3'12" ahead of DK - SVA Zalgiris, who are the only team having two riders in the Top 15 of the GC - great performance!
In 3rd place, we have MOL, whose top riders are 7th and 18th - which of course isn't bad at all, either!
And with these pictures, we end today's live broadcast from the Int. Österreich Rundfahrt 2020. We saw a surprising breakaway win on top of Kitzbüheler Horn, we had a GC leader who was seriously challenged today - but who finally was as unbeatable as almost ever. Join us again tomorrow, for the first of two sprinter stages - stay tuned!
Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt 
