Tour of Austria: Victor de la Parte wins stage 4

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Victor de la Parte took the win on stage 4 at the Tour of Austria for Team Vorarlberg, a pro-continental team in Austria. The Spaniard showed his good form on the first mountainous stage of the race, placing him in the lead of the mountain points classification and third on GC. Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) claimed second that saw him move into the overall lead of the race, with Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) finishing third.

“I got a lot of help from my teammates, and they deserve a lot of credit,” Jan Hirt said. “They were protecting me throughout the entire day and brought me to the final climb in a good position. I arrived at the summit with De La Parte; I tried to beat him in the two-man sprint, but he was faster in the finale.”

The peloton embarked in the rain on the longest day of the race with 210.2 km on tap for the midpoint stage. A solo move by Jan Tratnik (Amplatz-BMC) was allowed to escape shortly after the start, but was later joined by two other riders from Bardiani – CSF around the halfway point once the rain had stopped and roads were dry.

The escapees enjoyed up to a four-minute lead before a reduced peloton of about 30 riders caught them before the finishing climb. The front group would become smaller with each passing kilometre, until the final three when the attacks came.

"I did not expect there to be some flat parts on the climb," Ben Hermans said. "Three or four times you could recover a bit. I tried to follow the first guys but I could not close the gap."

“We were able to maintain a good position for Victor, out of the wind,” Grischa Janorschke added, captain for Team Vorarlberg. It was a difficult finish with constant attacks from the handful of riders contesting the stage. De la Parte waited until the very end before launching the decisive move.

One more mountain stage remains for the race, with a climb to Kitzbüheler Horn, similar to Solden from the Tour de Suisse. “We got the leader jersey and will of course try to retain it all the way to the finish of the last stage,” Hirt said. “I believe that we have a strong team that is capable of achieving that. I feel I’m in good form and I hope I can maintain it to the very end of the race.”

The stage ended just in time before a strong storm ripped through the area, dropping hail and heavy rain. Several team cars were damaged as a result.

Stage 5 begins Thursday from Villach/Drobollach to Matrei in Osttirol for 175 km.
 

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