The final of the second stage of the Tour of Austria in Grieskirchen (196,2 km) was marred by a number of crashes on the narrow road with dangerous corners. Team Katusha riders were involved in these crashes: first it was Sven Erik Bystrøm, while later, with 5 km to go, it was Rudi Selig.

Unfortunately it was a bad crash for Selig – he had to abandon the race and go to the hospital for a medical evaluation. The suspicions of a broken collarbone and brain concussion were not confirmed and no serious injuries were found.

"The final kilometers of the distance were too dangerous – narrow roads, sharp turns and a very fast peloton. The last km was extremely dangerous. There is no acceptance of these conditions for such a high level race. There were a lot of crashes, our riders crashed too. Rudi Selig had a really bad crash, but fortunately we’ve verified it was without bad consequences but he had to abandon the race. The atmosphere in the team is good and we are ready to continue fighting in the next stages," said Team Katusha sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

The winner of the 2nd stage was David Tanner from IAM Cycling ahead of Clement Venturini of Cofidis and Peter Kusztor of Amplatz – BMC. Katusha’s Angel Vicioso was 16th.

In the overall classification Gerald Ciolek from MTN-Qhubeka still leads, while Angel Vicioso is 3rd, 5 seconds behind.

Tomorrow it is the the third stage of the race – 181,1 km from Windischgarsten to Judendorf/Strassengel.