What an opening day! The Axams climb featured on the round course in the early part already features stretches of over 10%. But the big finale is obviously the climb to Kühtai, which is 21 kilometers long with an average slop of 6.5%. As the saying goes, you can’t win the race today, but you can certainly lose it.
Ghyselinck is the first attacker, he’s alone out in front for a bit, but more attacks are coming.
Ghyselinck is a poor climber, so he gets overtaken by this group of five, which has two minutes on the peloton as it nears the Axams plateau for the first time. It includes Chhetri, Stannard, Teuns, Hansen and Blikra. Nine more riders are ahead of the pack behind them, including Ghyselink. We’ll take stock in a bit.
At the first intermediate sprint, seven of the nine have caught up with the first group. They are Baroncini, Bugge, Pluto, Parashchak, Ghyselinck, Blouwe and Van Dijke, who finishes second at this sprint behind Hansen and ahead of Stannard. Milan and Sam would catch up just a handful kilometers later.
We jump forward to the first mountain sprint where Parashchak accelerates first, followed by Stannard and Teuns. The peloton is visible down the climb, but it’s still over three minutes behind.
Stannard times it just right and takes 6 points ahead of Teuns and Blikra. These points don’t really matter for now, given the 20 points available on the final climb, but could be a setup for another attempt later in the race.
First gaps appear as well, as Milan, Pluto, Ghyselinck and Sam struggle to keep up.
Hansen takes the second intermediate sprint, too, this time ahead of Stannard and Blikra. The power dynamics in this group have become fairly clear. Ghyselinck and Sam are still struggling but will rejoin in a few kilometers. The peloton is at 4 minutes.
On the fourth climb, Ghyselinck falls behind again and this time, he won’t come back. Good effort to show his team’s colors nonetheless.
Fifth climb and this time the attacks start earlier. A little over two kilometers to go and Teuns attacks. He has Chhetri, Stannard and, surprisingly, Van Dijke in his slipstream, then a small gap.
Teuns looks strong, he gets a gap to the other three who are joined by Hansen and Parashchak.
Teuns wins the mountain sprint ahead of Stannard, who has caught up with him but a bit too late. Both are at 10 points now. Chhetri alone in third place.
Third and final intermediate sprint. The leading trio has a gap of around a minute to 9 chasers, with another two minutes on the peloton. 45 kilometers to go, including one more Axams climb and the big one to the finish.
The three work well together, but the strength in numbers had the second group almost catch up, and in the first slopes of the penultimate climb, Blouwe and Blikra make the jump. The peloton is within 1’15 of them now though, Amaysim and Lierse SK doing most of the work.
A more detailed look at the final climb: It has few truly steep sections and is a bit uneven, but especially the second half is pretty tough.
A group of 6 (the five from above plus Bugge) are still ahead by around a minute, but with some 14 kilometers to go, we already have movement in the peloton! And it’s none other than Oomen who initiates the attack, followed by Berhane and Pogacar. Aular, Sicard and Carapaz are out of the saddle as well.
Carapaz doesn’t get there but the other five quickly open a 30 second gap. Another split occurs behind a group of 11, with Pomoshnikov, Penasa, Rodrigues, Garby and Habtemichael the biggest names on the wrong side. But they’re chasing hard.
The two chasing groups merge, as do the attackers and the remnants of the breakaway. Berhane attacks again right away!
Sicard, Oomen and Pogacar are with him, as are Teuns and Blikra, though in all likelihood just for a moment. Aular got caught up behind some of the breakaway riders while Reis leads the chase in the peloton. Still 10 kilometers to go!
Aular dropped back to the peloton and set a high pace, bringing the front group within 20 seconds. That promts Berhane to attack again!
Only Berhane remains ahead, the other three relax and join this group of 24. It includes some former breakaway riders as well as most of the favorites. Kritskiy is the big name missing, he’s over a minute behind, though that group also includes his teammates Roson, Lunke and De la Cruz, so maybe there’s still hope. Garby also in there.
Aular is pushing the pace, indicating that Rodrigues is Binance’s leader. It’s too much for Habtemichael and the last few breakaway riders. 18 remain in the main group, where Campero and Borisavljevic are the last remaining domestiques (other than Aular).
Borisavljevic soon drops and Berhane is brought back. Immediately, Shikai attacks, followed by Taaramäe. Worringly for Minions, Cattaneo finds himself at the very back of the group.
The attack forces another seperation. Berhane, Haig, Oomen, Rodrigues, Pogacar, Pluchkin and Reis keep up, at least for now. Another group of nine can’t. Campero gives it his all, attempting to get them back to the front.
Pluchkin and Reis have to leave a gap, seven riders remain up front. They now have a minute on these nine, where no one looks fresh anymore. Quintana and Cattaneo are the biggest disappointments among them.
Not much energy left in the front group it seems, either. With 3 kilometers to go, everyone’s got their eyes on the ground - or their power meters -, just trying to keep a good rhythm going. They do extend their lead a bit, at least. It’s 50 seconds on Pluchkin and Reis, 1’25 on the chasing group. The Kritskiy group is 4’20 behind the leaders, with Borisavljevic, Habtemichael, Stannard, Teuns, Blikra and Chhetri in between.
Somewhat unsually, the mountain classification is taken at the red kite, not at the finish line. Oomen takes it and will lead the mountain classification - but he wants yellow, of course. Still no big accelerations, we’ll see if anyone has anything left in the tank.
Meanwhile, Campero has done good work for the chasers to stabilize the gap, now Sicard and Cattaneo take over to bring it to 1’15.
The sprint for the win is one! Oomen still leads ahead of Haig. Rodrigues is the fastest, but not by much.
It looks like a five men race as Shikai and Taaramäe enter the front row, but still no one has overtaken Oomen. The gradient is down to 4% here.
Oomen - Shikai - Haig is the order heading into the final 200 meters …
… and the Belgian holds on! Sam Oomen wins stage one of the Österreich Rundfahrt. What a strong performance. Photo finish between Shikai and Haig.
Shikai is second, Haig third, then Rodrigues and Taaramäe.
Pogacar and Berhane fade a bit and get a 12 second time gap. Still, a good job by them, especially the Slovenian youngster.
Some riders still have energy in the chasing group. Aular leads the way, Penasa and Pomoshnikov struggle.
Pluchkin also has some punch left, he rides away from Reis to finish 8th. But the gap to the leaders has gotten larger, he’s timed at + 1’02.
Aular almost overtakes Reis, they come in 1’18 behind the leaders. A good day for Binance for sure.
Then it’s Monsalve and Quintana. They clock in at + 1’32, a hefty deficit but still slightly less than the 1’44 that Campero (what a great ride by him), Cattaneo, Sicard and Carapaz have to live with. Pomoshnikov and Penasa lose an additional 11 seconds.
Borisavljevic held on admirably, he finishes 19th and just 38 seconds behind Pomoshnikov and Penasa. Then comes Habtemichael ahead of teammate Stannard, the best breakaway rider today.
His companions Teuns, Blikra and Chhetri hang on to finish in the Top 25, ahead of this group including one of today’s biggest diappointment, Kritskiy, who loses over 5 minutes.
So, Oomen takes the yellow jersey today. But regarding the GC, with the poor performance of Cattaneo, the biggest winners might be Haig, Taaramäe and Shikai, the best time trialists of the group. Still, tomorrow should shake things up even further, so let’s not draw any early conclusions.
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt 
