UAE's dominance continues in Austria as Isaac Del Toro wins after spectacular finish

On Wednesday, it was local rider Felix Grossschartner who took the stage win and the leader's jersey. The UAE Emirates-XRG rider took advantage of a numerical advantage for his team, with Rafal Majka finishing second. On Wednesday, the riders faced another tricky stage between the start in Bischofshofen and the finish in Sint Johann Alpendorf.

The finish was at the top of a 2.4-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 7 percent. Hoping to get there first, five riders broke away. Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was the biggest name among them. He got away with his four breakaway companions and gained a maximum lead of three minutes over the peloton.

Slowly but surely, the peloton closed in on a stage that had been rather monotonous. UAE Emirates-XRG, as the team of the leader in the race, took up the chase together with EF Education-EasyPost. Together with INEOS Grenadiers, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Lidl-Trek, and Jayco AlUla, these are the six WorldTour teams that traveled to Austria.

With 30 kilometers to go, the gap between the leading group and the peloton dropped below a minute, and it was then a matter of waiting for the gap to be closed for good. That would eventually happen four kilometers from the finish, when the peloton stormed towards the final climb at high speed.

It was Unibet Tietema Rockets who opened the battle at the front, but Alessandro Covi quickly took the lead. The Italian from UAE immediately opened up a nice gap with his powerful acceleration, but it looked like he wouldn't make it on the steep final 200 meters. It was Del Toro who outperformed his teammate and won the stage. Grossschartner kept the leader's jersey.