The second major mountain stage in a row to start the race, today will help further shape the GC before the hilly stage five and the final time trial will put the finishing touches on it. Oomen and Haig will want to build on their strong performances from yesterday, while Cattaneo is under pressure to strike back, given his already significant time loss.
But they will have to wait a bit. There’s less climbing before the finale today compared to stage one, the only chance to claim the mountain jersey is with a stage win, which at this point doesn’t seem super likely for a breakaway, but still riders want to take the spotlight for a bit. Thiery makes the first move, followed by youngsters Evenepoel and Buitrago as well as Wohrer and Magnussen.
More riders try to latch on. Hindley leads yesterday’s breakaway rider Ghyselinck, then Manfredi and with another gap a group of four consisting of Coppel, Zumer, Gesink and Lindau.
The peloton is happy with this group and all teams who want a rider ahead apparently got one, because the situation settles down quickly. The breakaway finds a good rhythm and is soon three minutes ahead.
At the intermediate sprint ( Lindau - Hindley - Ghyselinck), the gap has grown to 7’20. Maybe the peloton is happy to let the break have it after all? Still 100 kilometers to go though, and gaps can shrink quickly on the final climb.
None of the riders have any mountain points, and thus only a shot at the polkadots jersey if the stage win goes to one of them. Still, they fight hard for the KoM sprint. Evenepoel took it head on but ultimately only manages to take third place, with Thiery and Buitrago in first and second. Ghyselinck has to leave a gap, Coppel and Magnussen just barely hang on.
Evenepoel was once again the first to accelerate at the second mountain sprint and again he gets overtaken, though this time only by one rider, Lindau. Zumer takes one point in third place, while Ghyselinck is joined by Wohrer in falling behind. Both would make it back soon though, with the gap to the peloton having grown to more than 11 minutes! None of these are a GC threat yet though, as everyone is more than 15 minutes behind Oomen.
With that number in mind, it makes sense that the peloton got to work when the gap reached those 15 minutes. By the second intermediate sprint, it’s down to 13 and a half. We’ll see where it is when the climbing starts. Curiously, in contrast to the previous intermediate sprint, this one is contested. Lindau gets it ahead of Ghyselinck and Evenepoel, Manfredi comes up empty handed. With the latter in particular though, as one of the better climbers in the group, you have to wonder why he’d spend energy here.
Interestingly, Strava and Popo4Ever show the most presence at the front of the peloton, with only occasional input by Minions and Amaysim. Sicard and Pluchkin have some ground to make up from yesterday, but the teams show no particular urgency - as the breakaway reaches the final climb, the gap is still slightly above 13 minutes.
Speaking of: Here’s a closer look at the Kitzbüheler Horn. Compared to yesterday, it’s a whole other beast. A bit shorter at 12 kilometers, but with an average slope of almost 10%, it’s one of the tougher challenges on the calendar. Three riders stand out as the top climbers of the breakaway: Gesink, Wohrer and Manfredi. The latter probably has to be seen as the top favorite now, with outside chances for Buitrago and Hindley.
It’s Evenepoel though who attacks immediately upon hitting the first steeper slopes. Manfredi is right there, a threatening move for the guys behind. Ghyselinck less so, the Belgian probably just wants a head start before inevitably falling behind soon.
Indeed, Evenepoel and Manfredi are soon alone and quickly build a lead of a good minute on the main group now led by Zumer - not the most potent climber among them.
A few minutes later, with 8.5 kilometers to go, Manfredi already wants to go solo. Evenepoel can counter for now. Zumer still keeps the gap steady at a minute.
Evenepoel seems to feel very strong! He doesn’t take Manfredi’s attack lying down and instead accelerates himself - and he gets a gap!
Meanwhile, the peloton have reached the Kitzbüheler Horn, still a good 13 minutes behind the leaders. And here, too, we have an immediate attack: It’s Quintana going for it! Penasa tries to follow and Cattaneo is on the move as well!
Up front, Manfredi kept a cool and steady pace to catch up with Evenepoel, seemingly without much trouble. The Belgian immediately accelerates again, and this time, we see the reaction straight away. The duo has a lead of 1’20 on their chasers, where still no one wants to take responsibility. 6.6 kilometers to go.
Lierse SK are doing the work you’d expect from the team of the GC leader, and they’re doing it well! Aleotti and Van Gils bring back Penasa and Cattaneo, and they keep Quintana on a short leash. In the process, they’ve opened a gap to the rest of the peloton, which caught a lot of riders by surprise. Only Sicard and Reis, in addition to Fedeli and Oomen, are with them. Fernandez leads the chase, but the gap stands at 50 seconds already.
Manfredi and Evenepoel keep attacking each other in a riveting duel, now it’s the Italian’s turn to attack. Down the road, Magnussen and Ghyselinck have fallen behind, leaving the chasing group 8 riders strong.
In the peloton, Fernandez closes the gap to the Lierse group with a big effort, but the contenders are still stretched out pretty far. Shikai and Berhane are closest, while Haig is staying sheltered a bit further behind, though still ahead of the likes of Taaramäe, Pogacar or Carapaz.
Evenepoel and Manfredi enter the final five kilometers with a lead of 1’36 on the now seven chasers - Coppel could not keep up anymore. A good buffer, but far from a secure lead, especially given how hard they have fought each other already.
And wouldn’t you know it, here’s another attack by Manfredi! Could this be the decisive one? Evenepoel is slow to react.
Meanwhile, Quintana is back in the peloton, or rather, what remains of the peloton. Only 28 riders are left following the high pace from Lierse. Pomoshnikov (17th) and Borisavljevic (19th) are the only Top 20 riders missing. They have 7 kilometers left to go and 12 minutes on Manfredi.
The group is put under further stress by another attack, again it’s Quintana. He really wants to crack the Top 10, which he narrowly missed yesterday, or go further, of course. Penasa is with him once more, but this time it’s Oomen himself who goes after them in pursuit.
At the head of the race, Manfredi has indeed gone clear. He’s got 30 seconds on Evenepoel, 1’25 on the chasers, where Buitrago has taken over now. With 3 kilometers to go, it would take a big effort for one of them to still reach the leader.
5 kilometers now for the GC riders. Quintana has 20 seconds on Penasa, who in turn has 20 seconds on the group now led by Cattaneo, who has Oomen, Aular and Shikai behind him.
Aular then takes over and quickly brings Penasa back. His pace also forces Aleotti, Fedeli and Herrada off the back. Pluchkin, Monsalve and Pogacar occupy the last row just ahead of them. Quintana is still 30 seconds up the road.
In the fight for the stage win, the efforts of first Buitrago and now Gesink bring the chasers up to Evenepoel and cut Manfredi’s lead down to 50 seconds. But the Italian is already almost at the flamme rouge.
Gesink really pushes it, and Lindau, Evenepoel and Zumer can’t keep up anymore. The gap to Manfredi grows smaller, but it’s still at 40 seconds. The surge might be too late.
300 meters left and Wohrer and Hindley attack! But surely, this has to be enough for Manfredi?
It is! Wohrer comes really close and if the stage had been just a hundred meters longer, he might have taken it. But alas, it isn’t, and Manfredi carries his hurting body over the line to take a fantastic stage win!
Hindley is third, then Gesink, Buitrago, Thiery and Zumer. Good results, though Gesink in particular maybe would have hoped for more in this constellation.
Nothing major is happening in the GC battle right now, so we have the time to follow Evenepoel and Lindau to the finish line. Lots of credit to Red Bull’s mega talent, who has given us a very entertaining battle on this climb and surely challenged Manfredi well, even if in the end he “only” finishes 8th.
Back to the contenders now though. Quintana is still going strong, he’s increased his lead to 43 seconds. Pogacar has fallen behind, but perhaps the more pressing news is that just ahead of him, Haig is struggling mightily! Do we see the second big favorite stumble in as many days?
We do indeed! That’s a shocker!
Oomen and Cattaneo want to capitalize, they keep the pace high. Only seven riders stay with them: Berhane, Taaramäe, Habtemichael (who’s going for white now with Pogacar struggling), Penasa, Monsalve, Shikai and Rodrigues.
With a big turn at the front, Oomen almost catches up to Quintana, and Taaramäe falls behind! That’s the second rider from yesterday’s Top 5 who suffers, and Rodrigues doesn’t look too fresh anymore either next to Berhane and Cattaneo.
Next on the road are Campero, once again with a very solid performance, and Kritskiy, much better than yesterday. Then a group with Reis, Lunke, Pluchkin, Garby, Grmay, Carapaz, Sicard, Aular, Van Gils and Haig. They trail the the Oomen group by around 1’25.
Another 50 seconds behind, Borisavljevic escorts Pogacar. He will likely lose his Top 10 place today, but still has around a minute of a buffer to Habtemichael in the U25 competition. That’s not a lot though, with 1,8 kilometers left for the Slovenian.
Coppel reaches the finish line ahead of the contenders, just under 6 minutes behind the winner. Considering his poor climbing skills, that’s a really good effort. He’s rewarded with the final Top 10 spot on the day.
Ghyselinck does not get there. Quintana overtakes him with 800 meters to go. Oomen now only has three riders with him: Shikai, who confirms his strong performance from yesterday, Habtemichael, who must have had a really good breakfast today, what an incredible feat to still be here, and Penasa, also punching a bit above his weight.
Oomen knows he needs more time on specifically Shikai to feel confident going into the time trial. And so he attacks! He looks so strong once again.
Quintana manages to keep up and actually beat Oomen to the line, he had really good legs today, too, and will make a good jump in the GC. They come in 12th and 13th, just behind breakaway rider Magnussen. Cattaneo has one more acceleration in him behind them …
… and it’s enough to distance his rivals at least a little bit. He crosses the line 23 seconds behind Quintana and Oomen. Taaramäe made a big recovery and finishes 12 seconds later, 9 seconds ahead of Shikai, Habtemichael and Penasa, all on the same time. Habtemichael will count the seconds now until Pogacar arrives. The gap was 3’15 before the stage.
Monsalve, Berhane and Rodrigues finish next, with Ghyselinck in tow. Losing 1’01 to Quintana and Oomen, Rodrigues still manages to stay in 4th place, Berhane moves up to 5th.
Campero, Kritskiy and Lunke are next, the latter leads home the big-ish group at the end of which is Haig. He loses 2’14 to Oomen, and also of course a good chunk to many others ahead, which sees him drop to 7th in the GC. What a damper, an uncommon sight in Amaysim’s terrific season.
Pogacar suffers an even bigger time loss. He gets overtaken by a bunch of riders in the final kilometer, ultimately even sending Borisavljevic ahead. But he somehow kept steady enough a pace to remain ahead of Habtemichael by just over 30 seconds. In fact, despite his heroics today, the Eritrean only moves up to 18th - too big were the gaps yesterday.
So, after the dust settles, Oomen increases his lead to 52 seconds over Shikai and 55 over Taaramäe. Both are better time trialists, but not by too much - the Belgian is the clear GC favorite now.
As mentioned, Rodrigues is now in 4th place (+ 1’21), Berhane 5th (1’33). Quintana moves all the way up to 6th, but he has only a bit more than 30 seconds on Haig and Cattaneo, who are 7th and 8th just a single second apart. Both will feel confident that they can overtake Quintana and Berhane in the time trial, but given the Top 4 are all decent time trialists themselves, more might be off the table - unless they can somehow gain some time on the next mountain stage (which ends after a long downhill and flat stretch) or the short hill finish the day after.
Behind them, Monsalve and Penasa complete the Top 10. Pluchkin, Reis, Aular, Campero and Pogacar are all within a minute of the Philips leader though.
Looking at the secondary classification, Oomen’s 14th place means he keeps the points classification, as well as the mountain classification, though that one is now tied at 20 with Manfredi. Pogacar remains in white and Cedevita leads the teams competition.
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt 
