Welcome back to Austria, where the last, the shortest and the flattest road stage of the race awaits us! In fact, Podersdorf am See will not only be today's start location, but also start and finish of tomorrow's time trial.
This market village's name already tells us that it must be located by a seaside - indeed, it's on the eastern shore of the Lake Neusiedl. This is an endorheic lake, and you almost can't drown in it, as it has a maximum depth of 1.8 meters only! A very small part of it lies in Hungary - hence we're pretty close to the Hungarian as well as the Slovakian border today. Of course, lake means tourist destination - which is the main source of revenue for the village, besides viticulture.
Wine might be an option after tomorrow's final stage, but probably not today - at least not pre-stage. The 6th stage leads us westwards, to Wien (Vienna), Austria's capital. About one third of Austria's population live in Vienna's metropolitan area, which is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Europe.
Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Haydn, Schubert, Liszt - you can't name all the composers who made Vienna the capital of classic music. Those who don't like music may want to visit the Stephansdom, the Schönbrunn castle or the Wiener Riesenrad.
The riders will actually arrive in Wien pretty soon, after about half the distance. They will then have to do eight 7.1km laps, with intermediate sprints on the third, fifth and seventh crossing of the finish line. The ninth and final lap will be slightly more than 10 kilometers, allowing them to have an almost 5km long final stretch, where we'll hopefully see the top sprinters battling for the stage win!
Not the top of the Ferris wheel, but the top of the podium is the goal of this stage - and most likely to achieve it should be the best sprinters, according to the bookies. Maksimov will aim at repeating his win from stage 3, while Zabel surely wants to improve on his 3rd place. Ciolek didn't even bother three days ago - he's still listed among the top favorites. Kupfernagel, Havik and stage 3 runner-up Vaquera get two stars, with the list rounded off by Garcia Cortina, Hodeg, Favilli and Trillini - let's see if the Duolingo trio feels like participating this time around...
It's a slightly cloudy day here at the lakeside of Lake Neusiedl. There's just a pretty weak wind, blowing at 6km/h in the direction of the home straight - possibly making the finale even faster than it will be anyway!
We have the first attacks after three kilometers - without much surprise, we have a Repsol and a GCN rider in this first move. Their names? Lyu and local talent Gall.
Some well-known breakaway teams try to respond, with Thill, Albert and Verona on the move as well.
Salzmann, Lilovski, Valter and Stedman are next, but Matte doesn't seem to approve this last attempt.
However, he has to slow down soon after, as he simply rode away from the pack - which obviously wasn't his goal!
Still, the pack continues the chase, and as they are already really close, Stannard and Figueiredo jump to the breakaway, too. However, Barthe, Minguez Ayala, Dzhus and Matte finally catch all of these - back to square one after 15km.
On the first of two very gentle hills today, Denz and Nych make the next move. Xero are chasing, but not in a very efficient fashion, with Stannard, Schomber and Fouche all on one line.
Denz eventually gives up, but Nych insists and takes Robov with him. The leading duo is chased by Stannard, Schomber, Stedman and Gall, with the pack only a few seconds down, though.
Nych however seems to be too strong for the Xero duo, who just can't catch the two leaders. The GCN duo can't, either, with Gall even falling behind his teammate.
The reason for the high speed is Verona, who apparently is doing an in-race training session for tomorrow.
But the Spaniard eventually fades, and so it's the sprinter and GC contender teams taking over. Matte, Minguez Ayala, Florez, Juodvalkis, Laas, Bostner and Ravanelli are currently doing the work in the bunch.
As the leaders had slowed down a bit, all attackers bar Gall have finally made the catch. But now, it looks like Stannard doesn't want the Austrian to join them, given that he's upping the pace again.
Gall is trailing by 21", while the pack is at two minutes flat.
Of those ahead, Nych is clearly the strongest on the flat - but the weakest sprinter. The four others all have similar sprint capabilities, with three of them being decent flat riders as well - but Stedman is clearly the weakest rouleur of the group.
And maybe even Gall can eventually join them and go for a home win? He'd be the worst sprinter and flat rider of the group, though...
The breakaway has just arrived in Vienna and is entering the circuit they'll have to do 8 times now. The short lap will take the right turn just after the 10km banner, while they will continue straight ahead on the longer final lap.
Gall now trails by a minute, the pack by another one. It's a hopeless undertaking for the local rider, it seems...
And indeed, after the end of the first lap, the Austrian is caught by the peloton. Ravanelli is still working hard.
At the third crossing of the finish line, we have the first intermediate sprint. Stedman leads the group at this point:
Their advantage is down to 1'14", 34.6km are left.
Orken currently leads the bunch, with Velasco, Pomoshnikov, Almeida, Favilli, Guldhammer and Hussein taking turns as well.
All the top sprinters bar the Duolingo ones are already very close to the front, with the latter still somewhere in the first third as well.
With 24km to go - and the pack really breathing down the escapees' neck now - Robov and Nych try to ride away from the others. The Russian has already shown in the early stages of the race that he can be hard to catch...
However, this time they are caught. Still, they remain ahead for the final intermediate sprint:
The peloton is just 53" behind now. One short and then the longer final lap are left - or in other terms, 20 kilometers!
After the duo attack with Robov failed one lap earlier, Nych is now trying to do it alone! He won a Giro stage from a simliar situation - can he do it again?
Uh-oh, there are some gaps opening in the peloton now! While Maksimov, Zabel, Hodeg, Vaquera, Garcia Cortina and Steimle are up front, the likes of Kupfernagel and Ciolek are in the second group!
And in terms of GC riders, only Guldhammer and Uran have made the cut! Let's see how this unfolds - it could be a really bad surprise for some!
The last short lap is done, we have 13km to go now - and a group including race leader Pluchkin, Wellens and Cattaneo is coming back to the front!
Nerz, Latour, Denifl and Martin are just a few meters behind them, but they still have a small gap to close!
10 kilometers remaining! The breakaway - including Nych - is still ahead of the pack, but Mapei now try to capitalize on the gaps and they want to distance a few GC opponents! So the escapee's advantage is vanishing - only 25" left!
Behind, we don't have any clear gaps anymore, but a long line of riders - that could break again at any point! Carthy is clearly the worst positioned of the Top 10, with Areruya, Konig, Preidler and De la Cruz even further back! Bernard, Faiers, Min, Abal and Gebremedhin are the Top 25 riders closest to the very end of the peloton!
And sprinter-wise, you probably guess who is missing... Yeah, the green ones.
The breakaway is caught 2.5km later - and we again have a split behind Martinez! All of those named before, starting with Carthy, now have some serious work to do!
This is confirmed by these images, as Farfetch are chasing hard to save their leader's Top 10 position! Desigual are supporting them, as Abal is back here as well! And the gap is 1'13", so this won't be a piece of cake for sure!
5km to go! Mapei are still doing a great job of keeping up a horrendous pace, with Ostergaard and Velasco leading the peloton!
The second group is meanwhile closing in, having reduced the gap to 48".
3 kilometers to the line! Mapei with Guldhammer - Favilli - Zabel and MOL with Pomoshnikov - Bille - Maksimov are building up perfect leadout trains - we'll find out if that strategy works out again!
Vaquera is the only sprinter following Zabel, while we have a long queue behind Maksimov: Garcia Cortina, Okamoto, Hodeg, Golovash and Steimle, with Kupfernagel close to Hodeg as well.
Only 2,000m remaining! The two dominant sprinter teams have now definitely taken control - and it's a good sign that they still have three men each with just 2km to go!
The situation of the other sprinters is pretty much like before - but it's somewhat suprising to see Kortsidakis fighting for Maksimov's wheel, while Kupfernagel and his leadout Orken are way further back, right behind Steimle!
Pluchkin, Tanovitchii and Wellens then are lined up behind the Greek, while Tatarinov is leading out Nerz on the other roadside.
But most importantly, we can see that the second group is coming closer and closer - also due to the front group getting more and more stretched. Will they really close this gap? Will new gaps open? We'll see!
1,500m to go, and while Pomoshnikov has completed his job a few seconds earlier, Guldhammer is now moving away from the front position as well. Bille and Favilli are taking over - and both the leadouts and their sprinters are neck-and-neck!
Vaquera is still the only one having chosen Zabel's wheel, with the long sprinters queue behind stage 3 winner Maksimov.
Kupfernagel is still nowhere to be seen - and will likely end this stage with an even greater disappointment than three days ago! But still better than Ciolek and Havik, who are in the second group... To which Ravanelli is falling back now, too.
Red kite, we're on the final 1,000 meters of the stage! And now, the situation between the duos Bille - Maksimov and Favilli - Zabel has completely changed, as only Garcia Cortina is still following the Russian!
All others - that is, in order, Vaquera, Okamoto, Hodeg, Golovash and Steimle - are now lined up behind Zabel!
Kortsidakis now is somewhat blocked by Guldhammer, while Kupfernagel is riding alongside Uran, way further back. Orken is still trying to lead him out - but they will struggle finding a way past all the others!
As with the 3rd rider, the final leadout also drops slightly earlier for MOL than for Mapei, so Maksimov had to leave the slipstream a tad earlier than Zabel. Will this be decisive? 700m to go and we'll know!
But let's try to get a clearer overview of the whole situation:
Favilli
Maksimov
Bille
Zabel
Vaquera
Garcia Cortina
Okamoto
Pedrero
Pluchkin
Kortsidakis
Hodeg
Valter
Rodriguez
Tanovitchii
Guldhammer
Golovash
Wellens
Orken
Goldstein
Steimle
Jallays
Nerz
Kupfernagel only follows two bike lengths behind his leadout - a disastrous day for him!
Only 500m to go - and the Top 3 currently are the same as three days ago! It's neck-and-neck between Zabel and Maksimov, with Vaquera however sprinting at higher speed - can the Mexican upset the top favorites?
Garcia Cortina is still within striking distance, which holds to a lesser extent for Okamoto as well.
However, Pedrero is doing surprisingly well, he isn't losing any ground to the Japanese ahead of him, so that could be an unexpected Top 10 for him! On the other hand, he can feel Hodeg breathing down his neck!
400m to go, and it's definitely a three-way fight for the win - possibly even with Garcia Cortina participating if he manages to time his final push well! Zabel or Maksimov - impossible to say who's ahead right now, while Vaquera is clearly in 3rd place, but only by a few inches!
Okamoto seems to be out of contention for the podium spots - but we've already seen sprinters fade dramatically on the final meters, so he surely hasn't given up yet!
300m to the line, and the situation up front is still the same - Zabel and Maksimov up front, Vaquera slightly behind, Garcia Cortina 4th, Okamoto 5th.
Pedrero is still holding onto a strong 6th place, but Hodeg has now moved up to 7th and is clearly faster! Valter and Rodriguez are doing a good job, too, while we can just see Kortsidakis' helmet at the bottom of the picture.
All of the top 4 seem to be sprinting at the same speed, as the gaps between them don't seem to change at all! Maksimov or Zabel is leading, with Vaquera still those few inches behind! 200m left!
Who is ahead? It's still neck-and-neck with 100m to the line - an incredibly tense finale, with Vaquera just waiting for either of Zabel or Maksimov to slightly fade! Garcia Cortina and Okamoto likely have to settle for 4th and 5th - but anything can change within 100 meters!
Only 50 meters left! Vaquera now is really close - but it's still Maksimov or Zabel leading! What a synchronous sprint for 700m now - let's hope the cameras are ready to help us finding out who the winner will be!
Meanwhile, Hodeg has finally moved up to 6th, leaving all those Repsol guys behind him!
It's really, really close, but today's winner is Rick Zabel! Roman Maksimov has to settle for 2nd today, while Cesar Vaquera takes 3rd. We have exactly the same sprinters on the podium as we had three days ago, just in slightly different order. Congratulations!
Garcia Cortina takes 4th place again, just falling short of a podium twice in two sprint stages. Still, it's a decent result. The same can be said of Hayato Okamoto, who takes 5th today, after 6th on stage 3.
And as Alvaro Hodeg easily takes 6th in the end, we have the exact same riders on the first 6 spots as three days ago. And just like on stage 3, a Berg rider takes 7th - but this time it's not Kupfernagel, it's Michail Kortsidakis!
Oleksandr Golovash takes the final MGUCI point, with Attila Valter and Jannik Steimle rounding off today's Top 10.
Antonio Pedrero finally dropped down all the way to 11th, with Aleksandr Pluchkin pretty much sealing the points jersey with his 12th place. Nicolae Tanovitchii comes next.
The final points of the day go to Cristian Rodriguez and Daniel Martin, with Tim Wellens, Martin Laas, Ahmet Orken, Ryan Eastman and Dominik Nerz completing the Top 20 of the day. Kupfernagel didn't really bother sprinting in the end, crossing the line in 23th place.
But THE question that's of major interest for some managers is surely what happened to that second group?
Well, they're about to sweep up some riders who dropped back from the first group - let's wait and see when they reach the finish line!
Here they are! It's a clear gap to the next riders, and the clock shows 1'05"! What does that mean for Carthy & Co.? We'll have to wait for the judges' verdict...
But first, let's crown the winner of the day! After a neck-and-neck sprint for over 500 meters, Rick Zabel finally had a slight edge over Roman Maksimov! Were these few seconds that the Russian had to leave his slipstream earlier than the German decisive? We'll never know, but we thank them for a great show!
And that goes for Cesar Vaquera as well, who really narrowly missed out on an even better result. All three of these now have two podiums in two sprint stages - great job! And for Mapei, it's the first win after three 3rd places by Guldhammer and Zabel - they may have sent only 6 riders to Austria, but with 4 podiums in 6 stages they definitely chose the right ones!
Aleksandr Pluchkin has easily survived this stage that was pretty hectic in the end, being as well positioned as throughout the whole race. With only the time trial remaining, he should have that overall win in the bag - but he still needs to deliver tomorrow!
Which holds a bit more for Tim Wellens, who still trails the Moldovan by 40", and has a 1'19" advantage on the next really strong time trialists. For Stefan Denifl, who currently is 3rd, it will be a really hard task to defend that podium spot, given he's only 15" ahead of Eastman and Cattaneo. Latour is in that group as well, but very likely won't have any chance to claim a GC podium.
And then, we look further down in the GC, where we finally find Carthy... in 8th place! The officials have once again decided that there was no gap at all, with the entire peloton getting the same time as the winner! I can sense a storm of protest coming up...
One man who won't care at all is Aleksandr Pluchkin. So far, he has scored points in all stages except for stage 4, totalling 67 points. Roman Maksimov and Rick Zabel have moved up to 2nd and 3rd, with 45 and 41 points respectively.
Which means that the Russian would have to win tomorrow's time trial to steal that jersey from Pluchkin - I guess it's more probable that the latter falls down the podium and has to give up...
The KoM standings were already finalized yesterday, and as Ruben Fernandez easily survived today's stage, he will wear that jersey again tomorrow - and if he doesn't get caught in an accident, he'll win it.
Florian Scheit and Jarlinson Pantano Gomez will very likely finish 2nd and 3rd.
Although Joseph Areruya was a bit lucky that no gaps were given today, as he was in that second group, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Kyeng Ho Min, who still trails by 1'29", missed out on the split as well, so neither would have benefitted of a time gap.
Jordan Schleck is 3rd, with a 5'36" deficit, and will have to fight hard to defend the podium spot against Aular.
Although a 4'16" advantage might not be decisive going into a 24km time trial, it's hard to see Kraftwerk Man Machine losing the team standings tomorrow.
On the other hand, DK - SVA Zalgiris are just 1'03" ahead of MOL. However, they seem to have slightly more depth in their TT lineup and might be able to defend their 2nd place.
But these are all things we'll find out tomorrow. I'm really excited for the big showdown - at least for the remaining spots behind Pluchkin. Stay tuned!
Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt 
