Tour of Austria

Italian wins first stage of the Tour of Austria

Davide De Pretto(Bild: GEPA)

Davide De Pretto has won the first stage of the Tour of Austria!

The Italian from Team Jayco won the sprint on Wednesday after 178 kilometers and almost 2000 meters of altitude to overcome with start and finish in Bad Tatzmannsdorf and celebrated his first victory as a professional. His German team-mate and sprint specialist Maximilian Walscheid took the lead in the overall standings. Felix Großschartner crossed the finish line with the field without losing any time.

"That was completely unexpected and I'm totally happy!"
Shortly after the start, seven riders broke away, including the Austrian Olympic starter Tim Wafler. They rode through the hilly landscape of southern Burgenland at an average speed of around 50 km/h and caught up with the breakaway group around 50 kilometers before the finish. In the mass sprint, De Pretto finally took the stage win ahead of the Portuguese rider Rui Filipe Alves Oliveira (UAE) and the German Niklas Behrens (Lidl-Trek).

"This was completely unexpected and I'm totally happy about my first professional victory. We actually wanted to ride for my teammate Max Walscheid, but I had the best position in the final," said the 22-year-old Italian.

Felix Großschartner(Bild: GEPA)

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's Upper Austria stage!"
Großschartner from UAE Emirates crossed the finish line in eighth place and is also the best Austrian in the overall standings, three seconds behind in seventh. "It was a good day for me and I had very good legs in the tough final," said the Upper Austrian. The 2nd stage on Thursday leads from Maria Taferl over 184.5 kilometers to Steyr and thus to his home town. "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's Upper Austrian stage. I live in Linz and train a lot around Steyr, so I know every meter," said Großschartner.

The result of stage 1:
1st Davide de Pretto (ITA) Jayco 3:39:07 hours
2nd Rui Filipe Alves Oliveira (POR) UAE
3rd Niklas Behrens (GER) - Lidl-Trek
Further:
8th Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE
23rd Sebastian Putz (AUT) Tirol
27th Sebastian Schönberger (AUT) Felt-Felbermayr - all same time

The standings in the overall standings:
1st Maximilian Walscheid (GER) Jayco 3:42:29 hrs.
2nd Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos
3rd Alves Oliveira - all same time
Further:
7th Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE +3 sec.
17th Paul Buschek (AUT) Tirol +8
33rd Michael Gogl (AUT) Alpecin +12