William Clarke (Drapac) confirmed that he is one of the best prologue riders in the world when he powered to victory in the very unique 600m uphill prologue at the Tour of Austria. Powering up the 11% climb on the Kitzbüheler Horn, the Australian was 1 second faster than young Austrian Lukas Schlemmer (WSA) who was a surprise second while Sylwester Janiszewski (Wibatech) was one second further adrift in third.

With victories in races like the Herald Sun Tour, the Tour of Japan and the Tour de Kumano, William Clarke has often proved that he is a real prologue specialist. Nonetheless, he was probably a bit uncertain about what to expect for today’s short opener at the Tour of Austria.

For the first time ever, the Austrian race kicked off with a very unique prologue that consisted of a 600m uphill sprint on the famous climb of Kitzbüheler Horn. Before the stage, many found it hard to predict the outcome as it could potentially suit both punchy climbers and explosive sprinters.

In the end, however, it was a real prologue specialist who beat them all as Clarke turned out to be the fastest. The Australian sprinted up the climb in 1.10 and that was one second faster than surprise early leader Lukas Schlemmer.

Clarke started around the midpoint of the stage but among the late starters, no one was able to post a time that was within two seconds of the Australian’s mark. However, the Pole had to settle for third and when heavy rain started to fall for the final 10-20 riders, it became apparent that no one would challenge Clarke. Sylwester Janiszewski was two seconds behind in third.

In general, it turned out that it was a stage for sprinters as Nicolas Ruffoni (Bardiani), Arman Kamyshev (Astana) and Andrea Pasqualon (Roth) finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. The pure climbers had a harder time as pre-race favourite Jan Hirt (Roth), Brendan Canty (Drapac), Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani), Guillaume Martin (Wanty), Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) all lost more than 10 seconds.

Among the GC contenders, the winner was Clemens Fankhauser (Tirol) who finished 10th, Quentin Pacher (Delko) in 11th, Domen Novak (Adria) in 12th, Markus Eibegger (Felbermayr) in 17th, David Belda (Roth) in 18th and Thomas Degand (Wanty) in 20th. Pieter Weening (Roompot) also showed fine form as he only lost 11 seconds in an explosive stage that didn’t suit him.

Clarke will wear the first leader’s jersey in tomorrow’s first stage which should be one for the sprinters. The 186.2km between the big cities of Innsbruck and Salzburg are predominantly flat and only include a category 3 and a category 4 climb in the middle section. There are 1972m of climbing but the stage doesn’t include any major ascents and the final categorized climb comes 62.1km from the flat finish.

A unique prologue

The 68th Tour of Austria kicked off with a unique mountain prologue which consisted of a 600m uphill sprint on the Kitzbüheler Horn. The distance was short but an average gradient of 11.3% made sure that the legs hurt right from the start and many were at a loss to predict which riders would do well in this kind of stage.

The riders had sunny conditions when Tobias Wauch (Wibatech) rolled down the ramp as the first rider and he posted a good time of 1.20.73 which allowed him to sit in the hot seat for a while. Gasper Katrasnik (Adria) also did well as he was only 1 second slower but it was Alexander Wachter (Tirol) who managed to beat Wausch when he stopped the lock in 1.19.63.

Ruffoni takes the lead

Marek Canecky (Amplatz) had a fine ride to slot into fourth before Yannick Martinez (Delko) made it into third with 1.21.89. However, it was Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) who indicated that it was a stage more for sprinters than climbers when he posted a time of 1.13.37 to move into a comfortable lead.

Antwan Tolhoek (Roompot) proved that the smaller riders could also do well as his time of 1.19.05 saw him move into second before Jonas Ahlstrand (Cofidis) became the second sprint in the top 4 with a time of 1.20.36. Diaz Omirzakov (Astana) also had a fine ride with 1.21.00 while pre-race favourite Jan Hirt (CCC) missed explosiveness and could only managed 1.24.00,

Great ride by Belda

Gorazd Per (Adria) slotted into fifth before Ruffoni came under pressure by two consecutive riders. First Clement Koretzky (Vorarlberg) posted a time of 1.18.58 to move into second but he was beaten immediately when Clemens Fankhauser (Tirol) stopped the clock in 1.14.86.

Sebastian Baldauf (Hrinkow) was the next rider to crack the top 10 with a seventh place and his time was fractions of a second faster than Lachlan Norris (Drapac) who slotted into 8th. Spanish climber David Belda (Roth) showed that he will be one to watch when his time of 1.17.56 saw him slot into third.

Best time for Schlemmer

Maxat Ayazbayev (Astana) proved his talent by posting the seventh pastest time of 1.19.66 but it was Lukas Schlemmer (WSA) who got all the attention. The young Austrian stopped the clock in 1.11.71 to push Ruffoni out of the lead by more than two seconds.

Luca Chirico continued the great day for Bardiani when he posted the third best time of 1.14.67 while Peieter Weening (Roompot) also proved himself ready to go for the overall by slotting into 16th. However, it were the explosive guys who did well in this stage and so it was no surprise that Astana sprinter Arman Kamyshev could move into third with 1.14.12.

Clarke takes the lead

Sylwester Janiszewski (Wibatech) confirmed the great form he showed at the Polish Championships when he stopped the clock in 1.12.53 to move into second. Jannik Steimle (Felbermayr) also had a great ride to take seventh with 1.16.85.

However, everybody was now waiting for Clarke who proved his status as a specialist by stopping the clock in 1.10.63 to beat Schlemmer by one second. While he found his place in the hot seat, Quentin Pacher (Delko) moved into 8th with 1.15.95.

Rain starts to fall

Clement Venturini (Cofidis) became the next sprinter to do well when he moved into 10th but he was quickly pushed out of the top 10 by Adrian Honkisz (CCC) who posted the sixth best time of 1.14.61. Climbing talent Domen Novak (Adria Mobil) also did well to take sixth with 1.14.61.

Newly crowned Slovenian champion Jan Tratnik (Amplatz) showed his good form when he moved into sixth with 1.14.55, only to be pushed into second by sprinter Andrea Pasqualon (Roth) who was fractions of a second faster.  Markus Eibegger (Felbermayr) moved into 16th to prove himself ready for a solid GC campaign and then Gerald Ciolek (Stölting) made it into 13th.

Ciolek became the final rider to make it into top 20 as heavy rain and even a bit of snow started to fall when the final wave of riders were preparing to start. In those conditions, no one was able to get close and when Patryk Stosz (CCC) had slotted into 83rd as the final rider, Clarke could step onto the podium as the stage winner.