In the overall rankings, Großschartner, the best Austrian, slipped from third to fourth place. Three seconds separate the 30-year-old from Ulissi, who was also allowed to wear the red jersey as stage winner. Sheffield is second, one second behind Ulissi, and another second behind him is Colombian Brandon Rivera in third place ahead of the two decisive stages.
In the coming days, the tour will feature a climbing festival where the cards will be shuffled again. The queen stage on Saturday (from 1:30 p.m. in the ORF live stream) leads over 152 kilometers and 3,800 meters in altitude from St. Johann over the Großglockner to East Tyrol to the mountain finish in Kals.
APA/EXPA/Johann Groder Großschartner (in the orange jersey of the best Austrian) faces decisive days in the fight for the Tour victory
Final mountain finish on Kühtai
The finale on Sunday (from 1 p.m. in the ORF live stream) includes 144 km and 2,700 meters of altitude from Kufstein to Kühtai, which is on the program of the Austrian cycling tour for the first time since 2013. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, on the other hand, is an annual fixture on the tour route.
“This year, too, the Glockner stage will bring a preliminary decision for the overall victory. It will be a battle of the best,” said Thomas Kofler, team leader of the Vorarlberg racing team. On the penultimate section, after the 1,300-meter climb from Ferleiten at the Fuscher Törl (2,430 m), the Glockner King will be crowned.
Shortly afterwards, the Hochtor (3.8 km uphill/2,500 m) is the highlight of the tour. After the descent into the Mölltal, the Iselsberg (1,200 m) is climbed before heading to Lienz and then on towards Huben. From there, another twelve kilometers uphill must be mastered to Kals (1,320 m).
Glockner “not decisive”
Großschartner expects the overall classification favorites to only fight hard in the final kilometers to the stage finish. “The Glockner is far away from the finish. I don’t think it will play the decisive role,” said Großschartner, who was already crowned Glockner King in 2015. The 2017 Tour third-place finisher knows the road to Kals well, including from training camps with his former team Bora.
The final day is also a tough one. From Kufstein, the peloton rolls along parts of the 2018 World Cup route through the Inn Valley and over the mountain classification at the foot of the Patscherkofel (1,030 m). From Innsbruck, the route leads through the Sellrain Valley for 23 km only uphill.
“It will be a holiday for the best climbers when they climb 1,400 meters to Kühtai. Riccardo Zoidl laid the foundation for his tour victory here in 2013. Perhaps an Austrian will land on the podium again this year,” said Tirol team leader and Tour director Thomas Pupp.
Tour of Austria
Third stage
Schladming – St. Johann/Alpendorf (153.1 km): 1. Diego Ulissi ITA 3:45:04 2. Magnus Sheffield USA + 0:03 3.
Felix Grossschartner
AUT -“- 4. Adrien Maire FRA -“- 5. Rafal Majka POL 0:06 6. Jesus David Pena COL -“- 7. Giulio Pellizzari ITA -“- 8. Welay Hagos Berhe ETH -“- 9.
Riccardo Zoidl
AUT
-“-
10.
Brendan Rivera
COL
-“-
12.
Hermann Pernsteiner
AUT
-“-
18.
Martin Messner
AUT
0:21
33.
Sebastian Schoenberger
AUT
3:53
37.
Philipp Hofbauer
AUT
4:21
38.
Emanuel Zangerle
AUT
5:53
Overall ranking
Standings after three of five stages: 1. Diego Ulissi ITA 11:34:08 2. Magnus Sheffield USA + 0:01 3. Brandon Rivera Vargas COL 0:02 4.
Felix Grossschartner
AUT 0:03 5. Xandro Meurisse BEL 0:15 6. Adrien Maire FRA -“- 7. Giulio Pellizzari ITA 0:19 8. Rafal Majka POL 0:22 9. Marton Dina HUN 0:23 10.
Riccardo Zoidl
AUT
-“-
15.
Hermann Pernsteiner
AUT
0:26
21.
Martin Messner
AUT
0:49
29.
Sebastian Schoenberger
AUT 4:12 Stage plan 2024 July 2nd Prologue St. Pölten (3 km) July 3rd Stage Bad Tatzmannsdorf – Bad Tatzmannsdorf (177.9 km) July 4th Stage Maria Taferl – Steyr (184.5 km) July 5th Stage Schladming – St. Johann/Alpendorf (153.1 km) July 6th Stage St. Johann/Alpendorf – Kals (151.5 km) July 7th Stage Kufstein – Kühtai (143.8 km)
Total distance: 805 km
Altitude: 14,156
