Key Felix Gall domestique and Vuelta top 10 contender crashes out of the Vuelta a Esapaña

Gregor Mühlberger has withdrawn from the Vuelta a España. The Austrian made a great impression riding in support of team leader Felix Gall, who is competing for the overall victory in Spain. Mühlberger himself kept pace with the best climbers, putting him in the top ten of the general classification. A crash on the thirteenth stage has forced him to withdraw.

Mühlberger made the switch from Movistar to Decathlon CMA CGM this year and immediately made his mark. The 32-year-old Austrian was absolutely invaluable to Gall in the Giro d’Italia, where his compatriot finished second in the general classification behind an unbeatable Jonas Vingegaard. Mühlberger himself finished fifteenth in the general classification there.

He then applied for a spot on the Tour de France team, but—much to his frustration—he wasn’t selected alongside riders such as Paul Seixas and Olav Kooij. It was a setback, but it did enable him to claim his first professional victories in three years: in his home country, he won the two toughest mountain stages of the Tour of Austria and took the overall victory.

Mühlberger was then brought to the forefront as a key player in Gall’s general classification ambitions in the Vuelta a España. Along with Callum Scotson, Léo Bisiaux, and Matthew Riccitello, he was part of a rock-solid climbing squad tasked with helping their team leader reach the podium, but it was Mühlberger who made the biggest impression on the team.

He was able to stay with Gall the longest during the grueling mountain stages, put in a lot of work, and was then even able to ride his way into the top positions himself. For example, he finished tenth on the stage to Andorra, twelfth on the Alto de Aitana, and tenth on the twelfth stage to Calar Alto, just behind Richard Carapaz, Primož Roglič, and team leader Gall. As a result, he was ninth in the general classification and had his sights set on much more.

But disaster struck on the thirteenth stage. Mühlberger crashed in the first thirty kilometers of the race. The crash affected him so severely that the climber was unable to continue. He withdrew from the race shortly afterward. This will be a huge blow for Decathlon CMA CGM and Gall, as their lead-out man was in the form of his life.