Tour of Austria

Stage 3: Kitzbühel to  Lienz 135.5km/84mi

By Cathy Mehl

A late race breakaway turned into a solid stage win in stage 3 of the Tour of Austria on Tuesday when Leonardo Bertagnoli (Androni Ciocattoli) beat the others to take the sprint victory.  Also part of the final group that broke away with 15km to go  was Team RadioShack’s Matthew Busche who sprinted for the line to take fourth place.  Coming in 40-seconds later was the chasing group that included The Shack riders Ben Hermanns, Tiago Machado and Ivan Rovny. 

The race lead stayed with Ricardo Ricco (Ceramica Flaminia) after he grabbed the jersey on the uphill finish on Tuesday. He holds almost one minute to Emanuele Sella but plenty of  racingstill to go.  Machado remains the best-placed Team rider in fifth place for the classification.

Wednesday brings stage 4 at 146.2km from Lienz to the Grobglockner in a challenging HC uphill finish. 

Top Ten Results

1              Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli       3:24:09                   

2              Ruslan Pidgorny (Ukr) ISD - Neri                                 

3              Egor Silin (Rus) Team Katusha                      

4              Matthew Busche (USA) Team Radioshack                             

5              Nick Nuyens (Bel) Rabobank       0:00:31  

6              Giovanni Visconti (Ita) ISD - Neri               0:00:40  

7              Thomas Kvist Vedel (Den) Quick Step                      

8              Fabrice Piemontesi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli                           

9              Matthias Brändle (Aut) Footon-Servetto                                

10            Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Androni Giocattoli

Team RadioShack on Stage 3

13           Ivan Rovny (Rus)

20           Ben Hermanns (Bel)                        

21           Tiago Machado (Por)

46           Daryl Impey (RSA) 0:02:59

58           Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) 0:03:56

79           Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) 0:06:59

81           Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa)

General Classification after Stage 3

1              Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia     11:27:39                

2              Emanuele Sella (Ita) CarmioOro NGC      0:00:57  

3              Sergio Pardilla (Spa) CarmioOro NGC       0:00:59  

4              Morris Possoni (Ita) Sky Professional Cycling Team           0:01:53  

5              Tiago Machado (Por) Team Radioshack 0:02:21  

6              John Lee Augustyn (RSA) Sky Professional Cycling Team                0:02:25  

7              Ruslan Pidgorny (Ukr) ISD - Neri                0:02:40  

8              Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team Katusha        0:02:47  

9              Stefan Denifl (Aut) Cervelo Test Team   0:03:03  

10            Donato Cannone (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia               0:03:1

Team RadioShack on General Classification

16           Ben Hermanns (Bel)   0:03:37       

17           Matthew Busche (USA)  0:03:41

21           Ivan Rovny (Rus)  0:04:18 

37           Daryl Impey (RSA)  0:08:24 

55           Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn)  0:12:57

59           Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa)  0:13:37