Tour of Austria

Tour of Austria
Stage 8: Podersdorg to Viennna, 122.8km/76mi
By Cathy Mehl

Team RadioShack took another win in the Teams classification, taking both the stage and overall Team win on Sunday’s final stage at the Tour of Austria.  Team riders Daryl Impey and Fumy Beppu both sprinted in today’s group gallop, taking 8th and 9th on the stage. The best overall team rider was Tiago Machado who just missed the podium in fourth place.  Teammate Ben Hermanns held his ninth-place on the classification as well for a successful week of racing in beautiful Austria.
Despite yesterday’s brutal crash, Italian Riccardo Rico (Ceramica Flamina) saved his lead to win the Tour of Austria on Sunday.  For the final stage Rabobank rider Graeme Brown took the sprint win over Robert Förster of Milram and HTC-Columbia's Andre Greipel.

Tour of Austria
Stage 7: Podersdorf, ITT, 26.3km/16.3mi
By Cathy Mehl

Two Team RadioShack riders landed in the top six at the individual time trial in Podersdorf for the seventh stage of the Tour of Austria.  Spanish rider Markel Irizar bested teammate Tiago Machado by two seconds to claim fifth place on the stage.  The stage winner was Joost Posthuma of Rabobank who took a full eleven seconds out of Patrick Gretsch of HTC-Columbia.  Riccardo RIcco (Ceramica Flaminia) held on to his race lead, but after a horrific accident with a parked motorcycle, the Italian rider’s lead dropped to only 38-seconds ahead of Sergio Pardilla (Carmio Oro NGC).
The Shack’s Machado slipped into 4th place with teammate Ben Hermanns now in ninth.  Team RadioShack leads in the Teams classification as well.

Tour of Austria
Stage 6: Deutschlandsberg to Laxenburg, 231.8km/144mi
By Cathy Mehl
With two stages to go in the Tour of Austria, Italian Ricardo Ricco (Ceramica Flaminia) still leads by almost two minutes to Emanuele Sella and Sergio Pardilla of Camino Oro NGC.   After several days of climbing the peloton of 128 set up for a mass sprint for stage 6.  HTC-Columbia rider Andre Greipel took his second stage win in the year’s race, after winning the overall in 2009.  He just beat Robert Forster (Milram) and Ben Swift of Team Sky.
Team RadioShack’s Fumy Beppu came up with the best sprint from The Shack riders, coming in three seconds off the pace while the rest of the group was another four seconds back.  Tiago Machado still holds fifth place on the GC and the Team leads in the Teams classification.

Tour of Austria
Stage 5: Bleiburg to Deutschlandsberg, 150.3km/93mi
By Cathy Mehl

Dutch rider Nick Nuyens (Rabobank) won the fifth stage Thursday at the 62-nd Tour of Austria.  With one kilometer to go Nuyens attacked and outfoxed Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (ISD-Neri) and Egor Silin of Katusha.  It was a slight uphill finish which suited Nuyens, a former winner of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne in 2006.
Ricardo Ricco (Ceramica Flaminia) won the jersey on the stage two mountaintop finish and has kept it since then.  He holds 1:44 over Emanuele Sella and Sergio Pardilla of Carmio Oro NGC.

Tour of Austria
Stage 4: Lienz to Glocknerking, 146.2km/91mi
By Cathy Mehl

Two mountain top finishes in the Tour of Austria brought the same results – Italian rider Riccardo Ricco won again on Wednesday’s stage 4 on top of the Grossglockner, earning himself the Glocknerking designation at the top of the climb.  Ricco retained his race lead as well, holding a solid 1:44 to teammates Emanuele Sella and Sergio Pardilla of Carmio Oro NGC.  Team RadioShack’s Tiago Machado was part of a chasing group that ran out of real estate before catching Ricco, settling for 6-th on the day and fifth on the classification.  Team riders Ben Hermanns and Matthew Busche hold the 11th and 14th slots on GC,  making Team RadioShack the leader in the Teams classification.

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.

Tour of Austria
Stage 2: Landeck to  Kitzbüheler Horn, 173.9km/108mi
By Cathy Mehl

Italian rider Riccardo Ricco (Ceramica Flamina) took his fourth win of the season when he charged up the Kitzbüheler Horn to take the victory in the second stage of the Tour of Austria on Monday.  Ricco also grabbed the leader’s jersey from also taking over the leader's jersey from Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia).   He beat  Carmio Oro NGC teammates Emanuele Sella and Sergio Pardilla by 53 seconds.
Best in the stage for Team RadioShack was Tiago Machado, who found decent climbing legs to claim fifth place.  He holds the same slot on the classification, with teammates Ben Hermanns and Ivan Rovny following in the top 20. 

Tour of Austria
Stage 1: Dornbirn to  Bludenz, 157.9km/98mi
By Cathy Mehl

While most of the world’s collective interest in cycling is tuned in to the Tour de France, racing is happening in other places too, most notably the 62-nd Tour of Austria.  The first victory went to Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia in a straight-up dash to the line that put him just ahead of Ben Swift (Team Sky) and Graeme Brown (Rabobank).  It was the 13-th victory of the season for Greipel.

The Team line-up for the next race:
Tour of Austria, July 4-11, 2010
Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Matthew Busche, Ben Hermans, Daryl Impey, Markel Irizar, Tiago Machado, Ivan Rovny, José Luis Rubiera
Director: José Azevedo