Having already lost time in the opening stage, Riccardo Zoidl suffered another blow in yesterday's queen stage of the Tour of Austria when he could only manage 12th on the Kitzbüheler Horn. The defending champion and his Trek team are now considering a change of tactics to focus on stage wins.

Tuesday’s stage three was the first real test for those with GC ambitions. The long 206-kilometer stage was a relatively flat parcours until the harsh eight kilometer Kitzbüheler Horn climb, whose steepness made up for its lack of length.

A dangerous 10-man breakaway escaped early on, which contained a few possible threats to overall race leader Peter Kennaugh, and caused Team Sky to control the front all day. Dayer Quintana (Movistar), part of the escape group, would hold off the chase on the final steep ascent to take the win, as behind Kennaugh, precariously isolated after his teammates worked all day, paced himself perfectly to retain yellow. Daminao Caruso (Cannondale) and Moreno (Movistar) would climb into second and third in GC.

Riccardo Zoidl knew the finish climb well, a brutal beast with a gradient average of 11.7% and reaching upwards of 22% near the end.  Last year the young Austrian, riding for a small hometown squad, burst onto the cycling scene with a stunning fifth place on the Kitzbüheler Horn and ultimately went on to win the overall. 

Fast-forward a year and Zoidl – weighed under huge ambitions and enormous pressure that comes with the terrain of defending champion - climbed to his maximum, but could muster no higher than 12th place, losing a further minute to the yellow jersey of Kennaugh.  Zoidl now rests in 16th place overall (+3’14”). Bob Jungels came across the line  moments later for 28th place and holds 22nd place GC (+3'41").

Sport director Dirk Demol calmly pointed out that Riccardo Zoidl and Bob Jungels did their best, but in the end, this is racing. The GC may be out of reach, he said, which may force the team to target a stage win for the remainder of the tour. 

“We know from experience that Team Sky would control all day in defense of the leader’s jersey, so there was no reason to send someone in the breakaway this morning," he said. "We focused on Riccardo and Bob in order to get them in the best position for the last climb and then it was up to them. It was all we could do today.

"The race was well controlled by Sky. Riccardo and Bob tried to make the best climb and best place possible. 11th is not what we were hoping, but for sure they did their best. There are still five more stages to go and we may have a change of plans to look at stage wins and not the GC anymore with a loss of more time today.  We will have to look further and sit down and discuss whether we still go for GC or look now only at stage wins."