Tour of Austria: Tanner wins stage 2 in Grieskirchen

David Tanner (IAM Cycling) sprinted for the win in stage 2 of the Tour of Austria, after a dicey final kilometres leading into the finish. The Australian crossed the line ahead of Clément Venturini (Cofidis Solution Credits); Gerald Cioleck (MTN-Qhubeka) maintains the lead in the general classification.

It was the second win in as many days for IAM Cycling, after Sondre Holst Enger’s first pro win in the opening stage Saturday. “It was not necessarily dangerous, but very technical,” Kjell Carlström said, directeur sportif of the team. “We had planned to work for Sondre, but we knew that the climb, 45 kilometres from the finish, would be very hard.”

Tanner was given the freedom to go for the stage but was quick to express his gratitude towards his team. “I’m really happy,” he said. “The boys are really riding well together and it’s really nice. It’s nice to be part of a team that’s functioning well.

With this kind of final and these sort of sequences of corners, it was a perfect finish for me,” Tanner added. “I was just calm in the last 10 kilometres and tried not to panic. I had to take a few risks but in the end, I placed myself well.”

Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) cited a lack of information from the race organisation that created a dangerous scenario heading into the finishing circuit, after nearly 200 kilometres of racing. The American finished the stage in the top ten.

“There is no time board and no race radios, so we did not have information on the race situation,” Bookwalter said. Rick Zabel, his teammate, had gone down in the final corner with another rider, though he was not seriously hurt despite some bruises and road rash.

“It was very dangerous in the last kilometre with five or six corners and a narrow road," he said. "Rick told me that he for sure was going to win if he didn't crash. So we lost the chance to do a better result."

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