While everybody's eyes are in France for the biggest race on the calendar, there's a second traditional July race (actually, with the Giro Rosa, the Giro delle Valle d'Aosta and others there are more, but bear with me). The Österreich Rundfahrt has been running since the late 1940s, although it has only been a professional race since the mid-90s. This has meant that until that point, perhaps the biggest profile winners had been the Ostbloc riders like Dmitry Konyshev, Olaf Jentzsch and Roman Kreuziger (father of the current one), with the obvious exception of 1954's winner Adolf Christian, who three years later became Austria's first - and to date only - Tour de France podium rider (by official records, everybody remembers Bernhard Kohl of course). Georg Totschnig is the only man to win the race as both an amateur (in 1993) and pro (in 2000), where since its move to go professional it has become the consolation prize par excellence for riders not getting to do the Tour de France. Also, because of the highly mountainous nature of the geography of Austria, it's been seen as a useful guide to see whether riders have stage racing potential, and also for second- and third-tier teams to make cases for bigger stage-race organizers.
Recent winners:
2006 - Tom Danielson
2007 - Stijn Devolder
2008 - Thomas Rohregger
2009 - Michael Albasini
2010 - Riccardo Riccò
2011 - Fredrik Kessiakoff
2012 - Jakob Fuglsang
2013 - Riccardo Zoidl
2014 - Peter Kennaugh
The race traditionally runs from west to east and finishes in Vienna with a flat sprint stage, with the key stages typically being the traditional Kitzbüheler Horn MTF, a stage which goes over the Großglockner (winner of the "Glocknerkönig" prize is a Cima-Coppi like financial incentive and major points for the GPM) although it hasn't had a finish there since 2010, and a mid-length ITT.
Last year's top 10:
1 Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) GBR 29'45'40
2 Javier Moreno Bazán (Movistar Team) ESP +1'04
3 Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) ITA +1'42
4 Patrik Conrad (Gourmetfein Simplon-Wels) AUT +2'50
5 Riccardo Zoidl (Trek Factory Racing) AUT +2'52
6 Jérôme Coppel (Cofidis) FRA +3'03
7 Oliver Zaugg (Tinkoff-Saxo) SUI +3'07
8 Jure Golčer (Gourmetfein Simplon-Wels) SLO +3'47
9 Dayer Uberney Quintana Rojas (Movistar Team) COL +4'14
10 Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) BEL +4'15
This year's race is slightly longer (9 stages instead of 8) which is a positive development. And, even better, the race is changing things up to go from east to west, enabling a more competitive GC race as historically the fact that the Kitzbüheler Horn has tended to be stage 2 or 3 and the biggest mountains are in the west of the country has hamstrung parcours designers (not that they haven't been responsible for some of the worst misuse of terrain in world cycling of their own volition anyway) leaving the second half of the race other than the TT a bit of a damp squib. This year the Horn is moved to stage 6, meaning there's more chance for the race to develop and gaps to be set before, especially with last year's second MTF, the similarly difficult Dobratsch, coming before it. It also enables the race, rather than ending with a flat parade in Vienna, to begin with a Team Time Trial - something rather new for the race - on the Ringstraße, giving us a rather scenic opening.
STAGES:
PROLOGUE 4/7: Wien - Wien (MZF) 5,4km
A flat, fast city centre Team Time Trial which is short enough that times should be comparatively insignificant (thank God)
STAGE 1 5/7: Mörbischer Festspiele - Scheibbs 207km
A mostly flat stage probably for the sprinters, but with a cat.3 climb just over 20km out, so sprinters put into difficulty may not be at their best for the last 200m.
STAGE 2 6/7: Litschau - Grieskirchen 196km
A rolling stage in the north of the country, this is tougher overall than stage 1, but has a longer flat run-in, so is likely once more to be for the sprinters.
STAGE 3 7/7: Windischgarsten - Gratwein/Straßengel 181km
An intermediate-type stage, with a couple of climbs in the early running including the cat.2 Präbichl; there is then a long stretch of flat before the final cat.4 climb of Plankenwarth just 11km from the line. Scope for late attacks here, as sprint trains will likely be weaker due to the tougher first half of the stage.
STAGE 4 8/7: Gratwein Stift Rein - Villacher Alpenstraße (Dobratsch) 210km
The first real mountain stage, and effectively as so often in the Österreichrundfahrt a one-climb stage. Packsattel is not easy but comes early in the stage, the run-in to Dobratsch is very long and flat, but the climb is difficult enough there will be proper gaps here.
The stage has changed slightly since that original version, but the climbs etc. are the same.
Profile of Dobratsch:
STAGE 5 9/7: Villach - Matrei in Osttirol 175km
A flat transitional stage where the second half is mostly slightly uphill but no slopes even remotely likely to drop the sprinters.
STAGE 6 10/7: Lienz - Kitzbüheler Horn (Alpenhaus) 165km
The undisputed queen stage, they've compressed the Großglockner and Kitzbüheler Horn into the same stage by climbing the easier (though still brutal) southern face of the 'glockner. Again, a massive amount of flat before they get to the base of the final climb, but at least unlike previous stages to Alpenhaus the riders will have plenty of climbing in their legs beforehand, which should increase the difficulty.
Profiles of the key climbs:
(the latter only as far as Alpenhaus)
STAGE 7 11/7: Kitzbühel - Innsbruck 125km
A standard Österreichrundfahrt stage: a stage through the heart of the Alps, which is short and flat and doesn't use a single one of the many awesome roads around the region. It's almost an achievement to design such a poor stage on a weekend day in a race like this.
STAGE 8 12/7: Innsbruck - Kematen/Bregenz 183km
...especially when they almost immediately start the next stage from Innsbruck with a tricky 4km cat.3 climb! The main thing about this stage is that like the Tour the ITT has been excised, it's all road stages. The stage is probably a break one given the tough climbs are a long way out, but then remembering the raid from distance that led to Jakob Fuglsang's overall triumph in 2012, this may make for interesting racing with no further days to save oneself for. The main obstacle in this stage is the mighty Hahntennjoch, which somehow isn't HC despite racing it from it's tougher eastern side:
They have - I kid you not - given that climb the same profile as this, the final categorized climb of the Tour, some 60km from the finish:
If you can't see how Hahntennjoch is approximately 2465798x better for breaking a race up than Hochtannbergpass, I can't help you.
SO! Who is riding this? Who has not made the Tour team? Who has taken a break after the Giro and is now gearing up the second half of their season? Who is showing their team what they can do ahead of potential Vuelta selection? Who is trying to get noticed as we head towards contract season?
20 teams are entered in the Österreichrundfahrt, six World Tour, seven Pro Continental and seven Continental squads. Last year's top 2 are not in a position to race even if they'd wanted to as neither Sky nor Movistar are on the startline this year, which consists of:
Катюша: Bystrom, Isaychev, Dani Moreno, Selig, Silin, Smukulis, Vicioso, Vorganov
Tinkoff-Saxo: Hansen, Petrov, Poljanski, Kišerlovski, Pires, Hernández, Sørensen, Zaugg
BMC: Bookwalter, Hermans, Moinard, Rosskopf, Senni, Teuns, Peter Velits, Zabel
Ag2r: Bagdonas, Bonnafond, Dupont, Gougeard, Jauregui, Kadri, Latour, Nocentini
Cannondale-Garmin: King, Mohoric, Moser, Skjerping, Slagter, Villella, Zepuntke
IAM: Chévrier, Degand, Denifl, Devenyns, Enger, Schelling, Tanner, Warbasse
CCC: Hirt, Matysiak, Owsian, Paterski, Samoilau, Szmyd, Taciak, Pluciński
Cofidis: Hardy, Joeaar, Lemoine, Molard, Adrien Petit, Rossetto, Venturini, Verhelst
Wanty-Groupe Gobert: Marcato, Backaert, de Greef, de Troyer, Ghyselinck, Minnaard, Selvaggi, Veuchelen
MTN: Venter, Ciolek, Johann Van Zyl, Thomson, Reguigui, Sbaragli, Berhane, Songezo Jim
Roompot: Duyn, van Empel, Hoogerland, Honig, van Ginneken, Berden de Vries, de Maar, Mike Terpstra
Bardiani-CSF: Manfredi, Piechele, Barbin, Luca Sterbini, Simone Sterbini, Tonelli, Andreetta, Simion
Cult Energy: Gerdemann, Hnik, Kirsch, Larsson, Lemarchand, Mager, Vinther, Zangerle
Amplatz-BMC: Bajc, Bajt, Canečky, Kuen, Kusztor, Paulus, Tratnik, Umhaller
Hrinkow: Benetseder, Fankhauser, Hofer, Hrinkow, Andreas Graf, Andreas Müller, Meier, Baldauf
Marseille 13-KTM: di Gregorio, Penven, Konovalovas, El Fares, Paillot, Siskevicius, Saint-Martin, Blain
Felbermayr-Simplon Wels: Golčer, Großschartner, Krizek, Kvašina, Mühlberger, Schöffmann, Rabitsch
Tirol: Gogl, Pöstlberger, Schoibl, Schönberger, Praxmarer, Schipflinger, Martin Weiß, Wöhrer
Team Vorarlberg: Baldo, Victor de la Parte, Janorschke, Jäger, Koretzky, Lehner, Daniel Paulus, Walzel
WSA-Greenlift: Auer, Brus, Bissinger, Gaugl, Götz, Leopold, Sokol, Taferner
Recent winners:
2006 - Tom Danielson
2007 - Stijn Devolder
2008 - Thomas Rohregger
2009 - Michael Albasini
2010 - Riccardo Riccò
2011 - Fredrik Kessiakoff
2012 - Jakob Fuglsang
2013 - Riccardo Zoidl
2014 - Peter Kennaugh
The race traditionally runs from west to east and finishes in Vienna with a flat sprint stage, with the key stages typically being the traditional Kitzbüheler Horn MTF, a stage which goes over the Großglockner (winner of the "Glocknerkönig" prize is a Cima-Coppi like financial incentive and major points for the GPM) although it hasn't had a finish there since 2010, and a mid-length ITT.
Last year's top 10:
1 Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) GBR 29'45'40
2 Javier Moreno Bazán (Movistar Team) ESP +1'04
3 Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) ITA +1'42
4 Patrik Conrad (Gourmetfein Simplon-Wels) AUT +2'50
5 Riccardo Zoidl (Trek Factory Racing) AUT +2'52
6 Jérôme Coppel (Cofidis) FRA +3'03
7 Oliver Zaugg (Tinkoff-Saxo) SUI +3'07
8 Jure Golčer (Gourmetfein Simplon-Wels) SLO +3'47
9 Dayer Uberney Quintana Rojas (Movistar Team) COL +4'14
10 Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) BEL +4'15
This year's race is slightly longer (9 stages instead of 8) which is a positive development. And, even better, the race is changing things up to go from east to west, enabling a more competitive GC race as historically the fact that the Kitzbüheler Horn has tended to be stage 2 or 3 and the biggest mountains are in the west of the country has hamstrung parcours designers (not that they haven't been responsible for some of the worst misuse of terrain in world cycling of their own volition anyway) leaving the second half of the race other than the TT a bit of a damp squib. This year the Horn is moved to stage 6, meaning there's more chance for the race to develop and gaps to be set before, especially with last year's second MTF, the similarly difficult Dobratsch, coming before it. It also enables the race, rather than ending with a flat parade in Vienna, to begin with a Team Time Trial - something rather new for the race - on the Ringstraße, giving us a rather scenic opening.
STAGES:
PROLOGUE 4/7: Wien - Wien (MZF) 5,4km
A flat, fast city centre Team Time Trial which is short enough that times should be comparatively insignificant (thank God)
STAGE 1 5/7: Mörbischer Festspiele - Scheibbs 207km
A mostly flat stage probably for the sprinters, but with a cat.3 climb just over 20km out, so sprinters put into difficulty may not be at their best for the last 200m.
STAGE 2 6/7: Litschau - Grieskirchen 196km
A rolling stage in the north of the country, this is tougher overall than stage 1, but has a longer flat run-in, so is likely once more to be for the sprinters.
STAGE 3 7/7: Windischgarsten - Gratwein/Straßengel 181km
An intermediate-type stage, with a couple of climbs in the early running including the cat.2 Präbichl; there is then a long stretch of flat before the final cat.4 climb of Plankenwarth just 11km from the line. Scope for late attacks here, as sprint trains will likely be weaker due to the tougher first half of the stage.
STAGE 4 8/7: Gratwein Stift Rein - Villacher Alpenstraße (Dobratsch) 210km
The first real mountain stage, and effectively as so often in the Österreichrundfahrt a one-climb stage. Packsattel is not easy but comes early in the stage, the run-in to Dobratsch is very long and flat, but the climb is difficult enough there will be proper gaps here.
The stage has changed slightly since that original version, but the climbs etc. are the same.
Profile of Dobratsch:
STAGE 5 9/7: Villach - Matrei in Osttirol 175km
A flat transitional stage where the second half is mostly slightly uphill but no slopes even remotely likely to drop the sprinters.
STAGE 6 10/7: Lienz - Kitzbüheler Horn (Alpenhaus) 165km
The undisputed queen stage, they've compressed the Großglockner and Kitzbüheler Horn into the same stage by climbing the easier (though still brutal) southern face of the 'glockner. Again, a massive amount of flat before they get to the base of the final climb, but at least unlike previous stages to Alpenhaus the riders will have plenty of climbing in their legs beforehand, which should increase the difficulty.
Profiles of the key climbs:
(the latter only as far as Alpenhaus)
STAGE 7 11/7: Kitzbühel - Innsbruck 125km
A standard Österreichrundfahrt stage: a stage through the heart of the Alps, which is short and flat and doesn't use a single one of the many awesome roads around the region. It's almost an achievement to design such a poor stage on a weekend day in a race like this.
STAGE 8 12/7: Innsbruck - Kematen/Bregenz 183km
...especially when they almost immediately start the next stage from Innsbruck with a tricky 4km cat.3 climb! The main thing about this stage is that like the Tour the ITT has been excised, it's all road stages. The stage is probably a break one given the tough climbs are a long way out, but then remembering the raid from distance that led to Jakob Fuglsang's overall triumph in 2012, this may make for interesting racing with no further days to save oneself for. The main obstacle in this stage is the mighty Hahntennjoch, which somehow isn't HC despite racing it from it's tougher eastern side:
They have - I kid you not - given that climb the same profile as this, the final categorized climb of the Tour, some 60km from the finish:
If you can't see how Hahntennjoch is approximately 2465798x better for breaking a race up than Hochtannbergpass, I can't help you.
SO! Who is riding this? Who has not made the Tour team? Who has taken a break after the Giro and is now gearing up the second half of their season? Who is showing their team what they can do ahead of potential Vuelta selection? Who is trying to get noticed as we head towards contract season?
20 teams are entered in the Österreichrundfahrt, six World Tour, seven Pro Continental and seven Continental squads. Last year's top 2 are not in a position to race even if they'd wanted to as neither Sky nor Movistar are on the startline this year, which consists of:
Катюша: Bystrom, Isaychev, Dani Moreno, Selig, Silin, Smukulis, Vicioso, Vorganov
Tinkoff-Saxo: Hansen, Petrov, Poljanski, Kišerlovski, Pires, Hernández, Sørensen, Zaugg
BMC: Bookwalter, Hermans, Moinard, Rosskopf, Senni, Teuns, Peter Velits, Zabel
Ag2r: Bagdonas, Bonnafond, Dupont, Gougeard, Jauregui, Kadri, Latour, Nocentini
Cannondale-Garmin: King, Mohoric, Moser, Skjerping, Slagter, Villella, Zepuntke
IAM: Chévrier, Degand, Denifl, Devenyns, Enger, Schelling, Tanner, Warbasse
CCC: Hirt, Matysiak, Owsian, Paterski, Samoilau, Szmyd, Taciak, Pluciński
Cofidis: Hardy, Joeaar, Lemoine, Molard, Adrien Petit, Rossetto, Venturini, Verhelst
Wanty-Groupe Gobert: Marcato, Backaert, de Greef, de Troyer, Ghyselinck, Minnaard, Selvaggi, Veuchelen
MTN: Venter, Ciolek, Johann Van Zyl, Thomson, Reguigui, Sbaragli, Berhane, Songezo Jim
Roompot: Duyn, van Empel, Hoogerland, Honig, van Ginneken, Berden de Vries, de Maar, Mike Terpstra
Bardiani-CSF: Manfredi, Piechele, Barbin, Luca Sterbini, Simone Sterbini, Tonelli, Andreetta, Simion
Cult Energy: Gerdemann, Hnik, Kirsch, Larsson, Lemarchand, Mager, Vinther, Zangerle
Amplatz-BMC: Bajc, Bajt, Canečky, Kuen, Kusztor, Paulus, Tratnik, Umhaller
Hrinkow: Benetseder, Fankhauser, Hofer, Hrinkow, Andreas Graf, Andreas Müller, Meier, Baldauf
Marseille 13-KTM: di Gregorio, Penven, Konovalovas, El Fares, Paillot, Siskevicius, Saint-Martin, Blain
Felbermayr-Simplon Wels: Golčer, Großschartner, Krizek, Kvašina, Mühlberger, Schöffmann, Rabitsch
Tirol: Gogl, Pöstlberger, Schoibl, Schönberger, Praxmarer, Schipflinger, Martin Weiß, Wöhrer
Team Vorarlberg: Baldo, Victor de la Parte, Janorschke, Jäger, Koretzky, Lehner, Daniel Paulus, Walzel
WSA-Greenlift: Auer, Brus, Bissinger, Gaugl, Götz, Leopold, Sokol, Taferner
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