Geniez climbs to Austrian win
Frenchman Alexandre Geniez powered to a solo victory on the fourth stage of the Tour of Austria.
Last Updated: 06/07/11 6:22pm
Frenchman Alexandre Geniez (Skil-Shimano) powered to a solo victory on the fourth stage of the Tour of Austria (Osterreich Rundfahrt).
He was part of a breakaway group which dominated the 199.3 kilometres route from Matrei to St.Johann/Alpendorf on what was a third straight day in the high mountains and the longest stage of the race.
It contained the second category Iselsberg, the hors-categorie Hochtor at 2,504m, the second category Fuscher Torl and then the first category Dientner Sattel, which rounded off a brutal day's climbing.
Geniez was to the fore throughout and, after being the second man over that last peak, he then surged clear on the run to Alpendorf and comfortably held on to notch the biggest win of his career so far.
He finished 15 seconds cleer of teammate Johannes Fröhlinger, with a further 21 seconds back to Alexandr Pliushkin (Katusha) in third.
Astana's Fredrik Kessiakoff crossed the line in fourth, 41 seconds adrift, to retain his overall lead. He has an advantage of 1:18 over Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing).
