The 75th anniversary edition of the Lidl Tour of Austria could hardly have started any better from an Austrian perspective, as Gregor Mühlberger claimed victory in front of thousands of spectators in the southern Styrian town of Gamlitz. The Austrian will now wear the red-white-red leader’s jersey on tomorrow’s Großglockner stage, while Austrian national champion Michael Gogl rounded off a strong day for the home riders by finishing sixth.
As expected, the opening stage from Graz to Gamlitz in southern Styria proved to be a demanding start to the race. Covering 188 kilometres and 2,716 metres of elevation gain, the route took the riders through the Schilcher, Sausal and South Styrian Wine Roads for the first time in the Tour’s 75-year history.
After the start at Graz’s Mariahilferplatz, the race came to life early on the way to the sprint classification in Voitsberg, with the riders of the Styrian home team WSA KTM Graz particularly eager to make the day’s breakaway. Shortly before the first mountain classification on the Schilcher Wine Road, after around 40 kilometres, four riders finally broke clear: Luxembourg’s Loïc Bettendorff (Hrinkow Advarics), Germany’s Tobias Nolde (Team Vorarlberg), Tim Gloßner, and last year’s German road champion Mauro Brenner. Behind them, Christoph Holzer (WSA KTM Graz) and Czech rider Filip Lepka (Schwingshandl Intralogistics) attempted to bridge across, but the peloton soon found itself more than eight minutes behind.
Around the halfway point of the stage, as the riders crossed the rolling hills of southern Styria with their sweeping views and impressive panoramas, Holzer and Lepka were reeled back in by the peloton. Meanwhile, the WorldTour teams had begun to increase the pace, and with 60 kilometres remaining before the finish in Gamlitz—where thousands of spectators were already waiting—the advantage of the breakaway had been reduced to five minutes, continuing to shrink steadily.
After the first passage through the finish area in Gamlitz, the riders entered a challenging 40-kilometre finishing circuit through the vineyards, featuring several steep climbs. As the leading quartet started to split apart, the peloton closed to within two minutes. The race then exploded on the final long climb: once Nolde and Brenner had been caught, eleven riders surged clear at the front, including Austrian national team rider Gregor Mühlberger and Austrian champion Michael Gogl.
Mühlberger takes solo victory
The leading group was heading towards the stage finish in Gamlitz when Gregor Mühlberger launched his decisive attack 11 kilometres from the line. The 32-year-old, who now lives in Salzburg, powered clear to claim a convincing solo victory, finishing 11 seconds ahead of Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Emirates XRG). Hector Alvarez (Lidl–Trek) completed the podium in third, ahead of teammates Bauke Mollema and Andrea Bagioli.
“The team did a great job in our first race together. I had really good legs right from the start and managed to attack successfully in the finale. I hope I didn’t go too deep before tomorrow’s Großglockner stage. I’m incredibly happy about my first stage win in a tour and about taking the leader’s jersey,”
said a delighted Mühlberger at the finish.The Austrian now leads the general classification by 15 seconds over Vermaerke. Austrian national champion Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Premier Tech) also delivered a strong performance:
“It was a really hard stage and luckily I had checked out the route beforehand. Congratulations to Gregor, who was clearly the strongest rider today.”
Mühlberger’s victory also marked a special milestone for the Austrian national team. It was the first stage win by an Austrian national team rider at the Tour of Austria since Hans-Peter Obwaller’s victory on the Kitzbüheler Horn in 2002.
Strong showing by the domestic Continental teams
Germany’s Tobias Nolde of Team Vorarlberg is the first leader of the Mautner-Markhof mountain classification. Gregor Mühlberger leads not only the general classification but also the Škoda points classification. Breakaway rider Loïc Bettendorff of Hrinkow Advarics currently sits fourth in the points standings.
Großglockner stage awaits tomorrow
The second stage of the Lidl Tour of Austria starts tomorrow at 11:00 in Bad Kleinkirchheim and finishes, after 188.8 kilometres and 2,914 metres of elevation gain, on the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe at the Großglockner, with the first riders expected from 15:20 onwards.
The stage will take the peloton through some of Carinthia’s most beautiful regions, including the lake district, before the race returns to one of Austria’s most iconic climbs.
Text, Photo, and Video Credits: Tour of Austria
