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2019 Tour of the Alps: Stage 1 Results

  • Ron 

Team Sky’s Tao Geoghegan Hart clinched victory in the first stage of the 2019 Tour of the Alps (Kufstein-Kufstein, 144 Km). The 24-year-old Brit rider, who also notched his first professional victory, outsprinted Spain’s Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural) and Switzerland’s Roland Thalmann (Team Voralberg), for the top podium step.

Pello Bilbao (Astana) finished fourth. Sixth place went to Chris Froome, riding for training (Team Sky) and eighth went to Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe).

It didn’t take long for the Tour of the Alps to see the first breakaway of the race. After just three kilometers from the official start in Kufstein, a 4-man group got clear, including Kuftein-born Maximilian Kuen (Vorarlberg-Santic), Patrick Gamper (Tirol Cycling Team), Matthias Krizek (Felbermayr-Simplon) and Emil Dima (Giotti Victoria-Palomar). The escapees managed to earn up to 5.40 on the first loop of the day, while Astana, Sky and Bahrain were sharing the burden behind them.

The peloton wisely controlled the gap, reducing the distance to less than 3 minutes as the race passed on the second circuit of the day, featuring the Hinterthiersee climb – 2 km with gradients up to 15%. Mathias Krizek remained solo at the front inside the last 20 km, whilst behind him Andreas Schillinger (Bora-hansgrohe) and Georg Zimmermann (Tirol Cycling Team) also got back on his chasers.

The second time up the Hinterthiersee climb brought everything back, and that’s where Vincenzo Nibali broke the stalemate and performed a swift attack. Only three riders managed to keep up with him: Team Sky’s Tao Geoghegan Hart and Pavel Sivakov and Bora-Hansgrohe’ Rafal Majka.

Nibali himself was the most determined in pushing the pace of the escapees, that held 10” on a group of about 20 riders with 10 km to go. It didn’t prove enough, as the Astana Team’s work. For Pello Bilbao favored the regrouping of the leaders and the eventual sprint finish. There came the unexpected, as in spite of the previous efforts, Geoghean Hart managed to take a clear sprint win over Aranburu and Thalmann.

“It was a beautiful day and a beautiful parcours. I’m really happy to take my first professional win here in Austria,” said Geoghegan Hart.

“It was a headwind over the top of the climb which was a shame but it was really close the finish, but also with some riding to go over the plateau before the final kilometres. It was kind of a mix between committing with having two guys at the front and also always thinking about the finish.

“I think we have a strong team here, we showed that with four guys across the line at the finish in the front group. We have Froomey here, he’s one of the biggest riders in the world so we support him as much as we can. We have some nice cards to play in the next couple of days and I’m looking forward to this Tour of the Alps.”

Stage 1 Brief Results:

  1. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) 3:30:48
  2. Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) s.t.
  3. Roland Thalmann (Vorarlberg Santic)
  4. Pello Bilbao (Astana)
  5. Nikita Stalnov (Astana)
  6. Chris Froome (Team Sky)

General Classification After Stage 1:

  1. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) 3:30:38
  2. Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) +4″
  3. Roland Thalmann (Vorarlberg Santic) +6″
  4. Pello Bilbao (Astana) +10″
  5. Nikita Stalnov (Astana) s.t.
  6. Chris Froome (Team Sky)
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