Gregor Mühlberger of the Austrian national team remains the dominant rider of the 75th Lidl Tour of Austria. On today’s Glockner stage, he claimed his second stage victory within 24 hours and, after 2014, once again crowned himself “Glocknerkönig”. In the general classification he extended his lead to one and a half minutes and also leads both the mountains and points classifications.
The 75th anniversary edition of the Lidl Tour of Austria delivered a very special jubilee on today’s Glockner stage from Bad Kleinkirchheim to the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe on the Grossglockner at 2,369 metres above sea level. Exactly 170 years ago, in 1856, Emperor Franz Joseph I visited this unique viewpoint in the heart of the Hohe Tauern National Park for the first time together with Empress Elisabeth. Today, the question was: who would be crowned the “Emperor of the Tour of Austria”? After all, both the stage win and the prestigious title of “Glocknerkönig” were at stake.
Stage 2 marked a premiere for Bad Kleinkirchheim as a stage host. From the well-known winter sports resort, the route covered 188.8 kilometres and 2,914 metres of elevation gain on the way to the Grossglockner. The finale was set on the 16.5-kilometre climb to the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, with gradients reaching up to 14.3 percent. After 1977, 1990 and 2010, it was only the fourth time that the Tour finished at this iconic location.
After around 50 kilometres, a group of nine riders successfully broke away. Among them were two Austrians, Lukas Hatz of WSA KTM Graz and Maximilian Schmidbauer of Schwingshandl Intralogistics, as well as German rider Tobias Nolde (Team Vorarlberg), the leader in the mountains classification. The Carinthian team “ARBÖ Kärnten Sport Feld am See” was also represented at the front by Christian Rush (NZL). Through the Mölltal valley, where the riders of the Austrian national team worked hard in the peloton around overall leader Gregor Mühlberger in strong headwinds, the gap grew to more than four minutes.
INEOS set the pace on the Glockner
By the start of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, the breakaway had been caught and the race entered its decisive phase. The peloton quickly shrank to just a handful of riders under the pressure set by the WorldTour team Netcompany INEOS. After the first hairpin bends, Gregor Mühlberger was left without teammates but held his position impressively among the leaders.
On the final eight kilometres, a leading quartet formed with INEOS professional Carlos Rodriguez, Paul Double of Team Jayco AlUla, Bauke Mollema of Lidl-Trek and a very strong Gregor Mühlberger.
Mühlberger attacks without mercy
Then, 4.5 kilometres from the finish, the 32-year-old Mühlberger went all in with an irresistible attack. He quickly opened up a gap and, cheered on by numerous spectators, took victory 1:10 minutes ahead of James Shaw of EF Education-EasyPost and Kevin Vermaerke of UAE Team Emirates XRG. Bauke Mollema of Lidl-Trek finished fourth. Philipp Hofbauer of Team Vorarlberg also delivered a strong performance, finishing 13th as the second-best Austria
“I am absolutely happy, even though the final kilometres felt very long. The headwind played a major role and the last 400 metres of elevation were extremely tough. I didn’t want to go too early, and at first Paul Double and I were working well together on the final kilometres. But when he started to struggle, I had to take that chance,” said Mühlberger at the finish.
He also paid tribute to his teammates: “The team did an enormously good job. I had full support from the very beginning and that saved me a lot of energy. Now, over the next few days, we will try as a team to keep our rivals under control.”
Tomorrow: Stage 3 from Lienz to St. Johann/Alpendorf
Tomorrow, the cycling-mad region of East Tyrol will host the start of Stage 3 of the Lidl Tour of Austria, covering 189.5 kilometres and 2,315 metres of elevation gain. The stage will start at 10:40 a.m. on Lienz’s main square. After an opening lap, the route leads over the Felbertauern into Salzburg, where the demanding finish in St. Johann/Alpendorf will take place for the 16th time.
The final climb features 2.6 kilometres with gradients of up to 14.8 percent, with the riders expected at the finish from 2:50 p.m.
Text, Photo, and Video Credits: Tour of Austria