Overall leader out

Horrific crash overshadows Ö-Tour! Trio in hospital

Ugly scenes at the Tour of Austria ...(Bild: youtube.com/Tour of Austria (Screenshot))

The second stage of the Tour of Austria was overshadowed on Thursday by a mass crash four kilometers after the start in Maria Taferl!

Maximilian Walscheid, the leader of the overall standings, was among the 30 riders who crashed. The German (Jayco) had to abandon and, like his compatriot Joshua Huppertz (Lotto) and Joran Wyseure (BEL/Alpecin), was taken to hospital for examinations. The day's winner was Brandon Rivera from Colombia after 4:11:53 hours.

The Ineos pro crossed the finish line at the same time as 21 other riders and immediately ahead of Martin Marcellusi (VF Group) and Xandro Meurisse (BEL/Alpecin). Felix Großschartner finished 13th on the day and is stalking forward in the overall standings. The UAE pro is now third behind Rivera, eight seconds behind, with Davide De Pretto (+7) in between. The other Austrians, who have high hopes in the overall standings, also finished in the leading group on Thursday.

"We knew that Diego (Ulissi) was one of the top favorites for such an arrival. I tried to control the pace on the Porscheberg so that nobody really attacked. That worked quite well, but the sprint was chaos, unfortunately it wasn't quite enough," said Großschartner afterwards, referring to his team-mate, who then finished seventh on the day.

Last year's Glockner king affected 
The race was interrupted for around an hour after the aforementioned crash and then reopened after a neutralization in Melk. The Hrinkow team was also badly affected. Only one rider from the Upper Austrian team did not crash, four bikes were broken. Jonas Rapp, last year's Glockner King, suffered a hand injury, but was able to continue riding like his teammates. 

"The rescue chain worked very well. There was a strong tailwind at the start of the stage, which caused additional hectic in the peloton," explained Tour Director Thomas Pupp.

The third stage on Friday leads over 153.1 km or 2,855 vertical meters from Schladming to St. Johann/Alpendorf. "Yesterday was already difficult, but today Porscheberg was certainly more aggressive. I think tomorrow will be a tough day for sure," predicted Großschartner.