CYCLING: Tour of Austria 2.1 2025 (AUT)

Austria 09 Jul – 13 Jul 2025 Class 2.1 – Stages – Class 1

Website www.tourofaustria.com and https://www.instagram.com/tourofaustria_2025/

The Tour of Austria (German: Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt) is a long-standing stage cycling race held in Austria. It boasts a rich history, evolving from an amateur event to a significant professional race.

Here’s a breakdown of its history:

Early Years (1949-1995): Amateur Dominance

First Edition: The official Tour of Austria began in 1949, although earlier versions were run in 1947 and 1948.
First Winner: Richard Menapace of Austria was the first official winner in 1949, winning by an impressive margin. He also won the second edition in 1950.
Amateur Status: For its first several decades, from 1949 until 1995, the Tour of Austria was exclusively an amateur race. This made it a crucial proving ground for up-and-coming cyclists.
National and Regional Winners: During this period, Austrian riders, such as Wolfgang Steinmayr (who holds the record for most wins with four victories), and riders from neighboring countries often dominated the podium.

Transition to Professionalism (1996 onwards)

Professional Era: The race transitioned to a professional event in 1996, marking a significant shift in its profile and attracting a wider field of international talent.
UCI Classifications:
- From 2005 to 2006, it was classified as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.
- In 2007, it was upgraded to a 2.HC event.
- It became a UCI ProSeries race in 2020.
Calendar Slot: Before 2005, the race was typically held in June, making it an ideal preparation race for the Tour de France. However, since 2005, it has usually been held in July, which puts it in direct conflict with the Tour de France. This shift often means that top-tier Grand Tour contenders prioritize the Tour de France, but the Tour of Austria still attracts strong professional teams and riders.

Notable Winners and Recent History:

Over the years, the Tour of Austria has seen victories from both Austrian talents and international stars.
Some prominent winners in the professional era include Cadel Evans (Australia), Riccardo Riccò (Italy), Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark), Peter Kennaugh (Great Britain), and Ben Hermans (Belgium), who won consecutively in 2018 and 2019.
Recent Challenges: The race faced cancellations in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and again in 2022 due to financial problems.
Return and Recent Victories: The Tour of Austria successfully resumed in 2023, with Jhonatan Narváez (Ecuador) taking the overall victory. In 2024, Diego Ulissi (Italy) was the winner. The 2025 edition has seen Isaac Del Toro (Mexico) take multiple stage wins and the overall lead.

The Tour of Austria remains an important event on the cycling calendar, offering challenging mountainous terrain and opportunities for a variety of riders to shine.

Del Toro wins Tour of Austria, Jungels wins in Feldkirch

What a finale to the 74th Tour of Austria in Vorarlberg: over 10,000 people in Feldkirch and well over 20,000 along the fifth and final stage cheered on young star Isaac del Toro, the first Mexican overall winner of the Tour of Austria. With a brilliant performance, Bob Jungels took the stage win around Feldkirch, Patrick Konrad was the best Austrian in fifth place. And stage winner Felix Großschartner, who rode three days in the red leader’s jersey, finished the Tour in 10th place.

The 74th Tour of Austria ended today for the first time in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg. Even before the start, the atmosphere in the town center of the medieval jewel was already a goose bump. The final stage was held under the motto „Feldkirch one hundred. Growing together“. The reason for the celebrations was the unification of the districts of Tisis, Tosters, Altenstadt, Levis, Nofels and Gisingen with the town center. In Vorarlberg’s second largest city after Dornbirn, the Tour of Austria was part of the anniversary celebrations with the final stage, which covered 144.1 kilometers and another tough 3,388 meters in altitude. After two neutralized laps, the first mountain classification in Rankweil was reached after 15 kilometers, which was snatched by former world champion Rui Costa, yesterday’s most active rider.

Vinokurov secures mountain classification at Furkajoch
Then it was off towards Furkajoch with a mountain classification of the highest category. The pass, which is also popular with motorcyclists, was on the Tour schedule for the first time and is 20.4 kilometers long with a gradient of 6.1 percent. Four top riders, including former Tour winner Riccardo Zoidl (Hrinwkow Advarics), Bob Jungels, Luca Vergallito and Sean Quinn, quickly opened up a gap of over a minute on the peloton. However, three pros stalked behind them, including Nicolya Vinokurov, the leader in the mountains classification, and his closest rival Emanuel Zangerle from Team Vorarlberg. But they were unable to catch up with the leading quartet, with Zoidl securing the HC mountain classification. As Vinokurov, son of Olympic champion Alexander Vinokurov, rode over the Furkajoch ahead of Zangerle, he secured the Mautner Markhof mountain jersey ahead of time. After that, it was straight on to the next mountain classification to Faschina, while the peloton was three minutes behind 90 kilometers before the finish.

Bob Jungels breaks away in the Feldkirch cauldron
Before the climb to the last mountain classification of the day, the 5.7-kilometre Dünserberg shortly before the first finish in Feldkirch, the leading quartet was now over three and a half minutes ahead of the peloton, which had already swallowed up the chasers around Zangerle.

Ricci Zoidl and Sean Quinn also had problems keeping up with Jungels – winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018 and Vergallito – overall winner of the Tour of Austria in 2023. After the first finish in Feldkirch with thousands of frenetic fans, the 45-kilometre final lap with a jagged profile began. The race situation: Jungels was able to break away from Vergallito, with Zoidl around 30 seconds behind, while the 30-strong peloton was just over two minutes behind. Tour de France stage winner Bob Jungels rode a brilliant race and continuously extended his lead, while Zoidl and later Vergallito were swallowed up by the peloton. At the 20km mark after Bludesch, Jungels of INEOS-Grenadiers was already more than three minutes ahead of the peloton.

Jungels breaks the UAE streak
It would have been the first time in the 74-year history of the Tour of Austria/Österreich Rundfahrt that one team won all stages. Team UAE had previously won all four stages. The 32-year-old world-class rider Bob Jungels, who celebrated his second victory of the season in addition to the Luxembourg time trial championships, stood up to this today. After around 130 kilometers at the front, he won by 1:45 minutes ahead of former world champion Ruis Costa, who won the sprint of the chasing group.

The best Austrian today was Patrick Konrad from Lidl-Treck, who celebrated a conciliatory finish. Philipp Hofbauer from WSA KTM Graz was also very strong in 20th place: „I knew that if I could get over the last hill, I could do it. It’s been a while since my last win and it’s getting harder and harder to win. The level here at the Tour of Austria was enormous, so I’m even happier about the triumph.“

Isaac del Toro first Mexican overall winner
After three stage wins, 21-year-old Giro runner-up Isaac del Toro from UAE Team Emirates – XRG celebrated an impressive overall victory. He was welcomed in Feldkirch by numerous compatriots. „The atmosphere was tremendous. The whole week was crazy and we can be proud of ourselves. Yesterday in Kühtai I was extremely pushed to the limit, but we always had everything under control. Congratulations to the whole team, everyone worked perfectly. Of course we would have liked to have seen Felix at the top, but things didn’t go his way yesterday. The Tour of Austria is an extraordinary race.“

Second overall in the Tour of Austria was Archie Ryan (plus 29 seconds) from EF Education – Eaysypost, followed by del Toro’s teammate Rafal Majka (plus 47 seconds). Felix Großschartner was the best Austrian in tenth place (3:18 min.). Philipp Hofbauer finished 15th, Hermann Pernsteiner (ARBÖ Kärnten Sport Feld am See) finished 18th and Hofbauer’s teammate Martin Messner was also in the top 20 in 19th place. „It was a great tour with the stage win in Steyr and three days in the red leader’s jersey. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good day yesterday, but that’s cycling. Unfortunately, we missed out on the fifth and final stage win today. Our big internal team goal this year is a new record of victories, last year we only missed it by one“, said Felix Großschartner, who was cheered on by his fan club.

Del Toro takes three jerseys
The dominance of Mexican Isaac del Toro was also reflected at the podium ceremony, where he was presented with three leader’s jerseys: the red Skoda leader’s jersey, the green one for the Austrian Lotteries points classification and of course the junior classification, supported by DANKÜCHEN. In the mountain classification, sponsored by Mautner Markhof, the Kazakh Astana pro Nicolya Vinokurov came out on top. Emanuel Zangerle from Team Vorarlberg finished second. And the orange jersey from Gebrüder Weiss for the best Austrian was won by Felix Großschartner. Emanuel Zangerle from Team Vorarlberg was named the most active rider of the entire tour. The best team was UAE Team Emirates – XRG.

Startlist

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Biographie

Bob Jungels – INEOS Grenadiers, Luxembourg, 32 years

https://www.instagram.com/bobjungels

Result

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