Greipel claims second stage victory

Andrè Greipel (Team Columbia-HTC) celebrated his second stage victory in the Tour of Austria on Friday, outsprinting Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Sebastian Siedler (Vorarlberg - Corratec) in the bunch gallop to the finish.

While the stage victory for Greipel was a textbook affair, earlier in the day the happenings on the parcours to Horn were anything but normal. After 38 kilometres of racing the stage was neutralised after the peloton took a wrong turn and left the race route. At that time a three-man break containing Stefan Rucker (ELK Haus), Markus Eichler (Team Milram) and Maxim Belkov (ISD) held a 2:30 gap over solitary chaser Jonas Ljungblad (Silence-Lotto) and a 5:00 advantage over the peloton.

The leading four riders, who had not veered off course, were halted by race officials while the peloton made its way back onto the race route. The race was delayed for approximately 30 minutes and then the four riders once again resumed racing with the same time gaps to the field. As a result of the halt in action, the circuit at the finish in Horn was eliminated reducing the stage distance to 158.8 kilometres.

After the "second" start of the day, the peloton steadily ate into the lead of the escapees and neutralised their advantage with three kilometres remaining to the finish line.

"Andre was maybe tenth or fifteenth rider back when he started making his final acceleration about 200 metres from the line," said Columbia-HTC directeur sportif Tristan Hoffman. "But despite being his such a long way behind it all worked out ok. Andre's is so strong right now that even when he's at a bit of a disadvantage like today, he can still end up overtaking the rest of the guys."

"It was a very turbulent stage with a dangerous finale," said Greipel, who earned his twelfth victory of the season. "I had very heavy legs today, because we had to work hard for Michael Albasini in the last few days."

In the overall classification Greipel's Team Columbia-HTC teammate Michael Albasini defended his yellow jersey, maintaining an 11-second lead over Gianpaolo Caruso (Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce).

"Of course I already have tired legs and I was able to rest a bit for tomorrow. I will focus for my race tomorrow and will give the maximum," said Albasini.

The peloton faces a 26.3-kilometre time trial on Saturday in Podersdorf.

"Michael’s advantage of 11 seconds in the overall is small, but it could be enough," said Hoffman. "It's not a complicated time trial, completely flat and with only a few technical sections. We'll see."