Everything you need to know about the tough, eight-day stage race.
Mountainous route awaits riders
Team Sky return to the Tour of Austria after a one-year absence looking to build on Ian Stannard’s stage victory in 2011.
The eight-day race will be played out on a mountainous but scenic route, with summit finishes on each of the opening two stages and only one road stage that isn't littered with climbs.
Stage two includes an ascent of the brutally tough Kitzbuheler Horn, which averages 12.9 per cent in gradient, and should see the peloton’s climbers take control of the general classification.
Team Sky missed the race last year, but have good memories of the 2011 edition, when Stannard claimed his first professional win with victory on stage five.
Sunday 30 June – Stage 1: Innsbruck to Kuhtai, 134.9km
A mountainous race opens up with a tough summit finish. The riders are given chance to warm up their legs with two circuits around the town of Kematen, with each taking in a catgory-three climb to Axams, but then the road turns up towards the finish line at the high pass at Kuhtai. The climb is around 17.5km in length and averages 7.5 per cent in gradient, so will be a stern test for the riders and is likely to established an earlier hierarchy in the general classification.
Monday 1 July – Stage 2: Innsbruck to Kitzbuheler Horn, 157.4km
A spectacular day that will rival anything seen in the Tour de France in terms of scenery. Once again leaving Innsbruck, the riders will head east towards the skiing Mecca of Kitzbuhel on a route that rolls gently over one category-three climb and one category-four climb in its first 130km. However, as it approaches Kitzbuhel, the road rears violently upwards for a second summit finish in successive days. The climb up the iconic Kitzbuheler Horn is 9.7km long and averages a truly back-breaking 12.9 per cent in gradient. The climb is one of European cycling’s most fearsome challenges and will once again see significant gaps opened up in the general classification.
Tuesday 2 July – Stage 3: Heiligenblut to Matrei in Osttirol, 119.7km
After the rigours of the Kitzbuheler Horn, the riders are given an easier day on a third stage that allows the rouleurs to come to the fore. A flowing route includes ascents of the category-three Iselsberg, after 22.5km, and the category-two Fronstadl, after 61km, but the latter half is free from significant climbing could give a breakaway a decent chance of staying out. Should the escapees be unable to build up a healthy enough lead on the climbs, the rise to the finish should hand the initiative to a late attacker.
Wednesday 3 July – Stage 4: Matrei in Osttirol to St Johann/Alpendorf, 146km
The race heads back into the mountains for an ascent of the 2,504m-high,
hors-categorie Hochtor climb and the adjoining category-two Fuscher Torl. The Hochtor is 17.4km long and averages eight per cent in gradient, but just as much as a challenge is the thinned air that a summit of such height throws up. The top of the Fuscher Torl arrives at 84km, after which there is a long downhill and long section of largely flat road to the finish. However, there is a sting in the stage’s tail, because a short, sharp rise just before the line awaits the riders, cancelling out chance of any sort of bunch sprint and once again handing later attackers the impetus.
Thursday 4 July – Stage 5: St Johann/Alpendorf to Sonntagberg, 228.3km
Stage five is not only the longest of the race, at over 220km, but also throws up three categorised climbs and a sharp ascent to the finish line. After a small climb inside the first 20km, the route passes through two quick-fire intermediate sprints, before rolling gently down towards the category-three Buchauer Sattel at 121km. Two category-four climbs then follow as the road continues to undulate, before continuing its downhill trajectory towards Sonntagberg. The punchy climbers will then once again come to the fore as the route kickly aggressively uphill to the line.
Friday 5 July – Stage 6: Maria Taferl to Poysdorf, 182km
Another tough test, stage six is relatively flat for its opening 50km, but then starts getting lumpy as the profile takes on a sawtooth appearance. There are three categorised climbs (two category fours and one category three) in a challenging stretch between the 61km and 120km marks, before the road rumbles along on a undulating course towards the finish line. A healthy-sized breakaway should go clear and they will have a good chance of staying clear. Should they fail, the climbs are not challenging enough to thin down the peloton too dramatically, and although there is a slight rise to the finish line, a bunch sprint should ensue.
Saturday 6 July – Stage7: Podersdorf am Neusiedler See, 24.1km time trial
The race takes a break from going uphill in order to test the riders with a mid-distance time trial around the lakeside town of Podersdorf am Neusiedler See, close to Austria’s eastern border with Slovakia. The route is pan flat, so should suit pure time-triallists.
Sunday 7 July – Stage 8: Podersdorf am Neusiedler See to Vienna, 122.8km
The race ends with its second shortest and most straightforward road stage: a flat dash into the capital. There are a couple of small, uncategorised climbs in the first half of the stage, but the road then flattens out as it enters Vienna for 11 laps of a finishing circuit. A bunch sprint will see the fastest legs in the peloton take the race’s final stage honours.
Team Sky history
Team Sky’s only other appearances at the Tour of Austria were in 2010, when Morris Possoni finished eighth in the general classification, and in 2011, when Stannard won stage five and Possini claimed another top 10 overall, this time placing seventh.
