July 12/08 2:57 am - Tour of Austria: Stage 6, Barry 11th on GC

Posted by Editoress on 07/12/08
 

Tour of Austria
Report by Martin Roseneder

Bert Grabsch (Colombia) won the 26.6-kilometre individual time trial in Podersdorf/ Neusiedler See. The reigning time trial champion won 43 seconds ahead his teammate Edval Boasson Hagen and Michael Blaudzun of CSC. "All was perfect today and my conditioning is increasing before the Olympic Games in Beijing, where I expect a lot in the time trial, "said the last year's stage winner of the Vuelta Espagna. "It was a fantastic day for my team Columbia: Double victory in Austria and double victory at the Tour de France for Cavendis and Ciolek today", he added.

Rohregger was able to make the impossible to come true

Ruslan Pidgronyy and Vladimir Gusev had been the hottest candidates for the yellow jersey after today´s stage. But they underestimated Thomas Rohregger who trained especially for the time trial. "In the winter I made countless tests in the wind tunnel for my correct position on my bike. And it worked. Right after the start I noticed no difficulty - in contrast to last year. I was outsider for the time trial and just wanted to do my best," said Thomas Rohregger. His girlfriend handed him the yellow jersey at the podium ceremony.

Thomas Rohregger added an additional 7 seconds to the time gap on Vladimir Gusev . "I was able to do very well in the time trial, I showed my detractors." At tomorrow's final stage to Vienna Thomas Rohregger is now 40 seconds ahead of Vladimir Gusev and 1:05 minutes to Ruslan Pidgornyy (LPR).

René Haselbacher keeps the points classification. Giampaolo Caruso (Ceramica) has already won the Wiesbauer mountain classification.

Final stage tomorrow to Vienna

The final stage of the 60th edition of International Tour of Austria will start in Podersdorf and will finish in the capital of Austria, Vienna.