Four out of four for UAE, three in a row for Del Toro: Mexican takes leader’s jersey in Austria

Three stages, three stage wins: the Tour of Austria could not have started better for UAE Team Emirates - XRG. After Felix Grossschartner's opening victory, it was Isaac Del Toro's turn to win twice. Together, they secured first and second place in the GC, putting them in a perfect starting position for the queen stage, which would take them over the dreaded Kühtaipas twice—an absolute monster, in just 117 kilometers.

Such a tough stage usually means a fierce race from the start, and that was certainly the case here. A strong breakaway group pulled away from the peloton. Among them were Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), Héctor Álvarez (Lidl-Trek), Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Salvatore Puccio (INEOS Grenadiers), Paul Double (Jayco-AlUla), Rui Costa (EF Education - EasyPost) and Baptiste Huyet (Unibet Tietema Rockets) were part of a breakaway of 12 riders. Of those, Double was a dangerous contender at 2.28, so the gap never got too big.

It was a matter of waiting for the first real climb, which was the Kühtai: the 23-kilometer climb immediately caused a split in the leading group. Double couldn't keep up with the pace, and with just under 50 kilometers to go, Costa took off. The former world champion reached the summit solo: Huyet was 30 seconds behind with Colin Stüssi (Vorarlberg). In the peloton, Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS-Astana) managed to break away and take the mountain jersey from Emanuel Zangerle.

On the Ötztal Sattele, the penultimate climb and a grueling test, only Costa remained from the early breakaway. But the peloton, led by UAE Team Emirates - XRG, quickly closed in. However, the first acceleration did not come from that team: Esteban Chaves jumped toward his teammate in the lead, with Rafal Majka (UAE) and Asbjorn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla) following. INEOS Grenadiers was forced to lead the chase, with the chasing group still made up of 15 riders.

Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek) increased the pace there, but Del Toro quickly countered the German. The Mexican took off with Archie Ryan (EF Education - EasyPost), who was pretty much the only rider to have challenged UAE in the first three stages. They joined the leaders, but a second group also managed to get back. This meant that 10 riders would battle for the victory in the final 6 kilometers, which proved to be a difficult challenge.

Majka went again: only Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), Chaves, Ryan, and Del Toro followed. The 21-year-old Mexican was in a comfortable position, as leader Grossschartner had been dropped some time ago. His Polish domestique was very strong, dropping Chaves and Engelhardt. The Irishman Ryan was caught in a UAE sandwich, which proved fatal. The pace was too high for an attack, making a sprint inevitable. Del Toro sprinted away from Ryan, who finished second, with Majka coming in third.