Strong Mollema again among the best in brutal Tour of Austria mountain stage, Mühlberger reigns on Grossglockner

The second stage of the Tour of Austria was won by Gregor Mühlberger. The Austrian of Decathlon CMA CGM, riding here in the colors of the Austrian national team, more than lived up to his role as favorite on the Grossglockner and defended his leader’s jersey in dominant fashion. Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) delivered another strong performance, finishing fourth in the mountain stage.

The first stage had already offered a clear indication of the balance of power in the Tour of Austria. Mühlberger attacked in the hilly finale and managed to cross the line solo, with Mollema among those behind him. That meant the Austrian climber started the first real mountain stage as the overall leader. And what a stage it was: the race would finish on the feared Grossglockner.

It was a two-part final assault, with roughly 20 kilometers of climbing in total. For most of the day, however, the route was almost completely flat. A breakaway of no fewer than eight riders formed, including Mauro Brenner and Tobias Nolde, who had also been part of the action in the first stage. Their advantage, though, never grew beyond four minutes.

Team Austria and Tirol KTM set the pace on the way to the final climb. The breakaway riders still made it onto the opening slopes of the Grossglockner, but they did not last much longer. From there, Netcompany INEOS took over, and that immediately caused some big names to lose contact. Riders such as Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) were forced to let go.

Inside the final ten kilometers, only around a dozen riders remained at the front. Mühlberger was still there, as were Mollema, Andrew August, Carlos Rodriguez (Netcompany INEOS), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla) and Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). It was Double who accelerated first, with Mühlberger later bridging across. The rest had to follow at a distance.

Mollema tried to get across, but the two leaders proved to be the strongest. Above all, the man in the leader’s jersey looked exceptionally powerful. Mühlberger dropped Double with around five kilometers to go and rode solo to victory. Double was eventually caught, with James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) taking second place at 1:10, ahead of Vermaerke. Mollema crossed the line in the same time in fourth place, a result that moved him up to third in the general classification.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]