One month after winning the Tour des Fjords, Marco Haller (Katusha) continued his fantastic 2015 season by winning the Austrian road race championships. The Katusha rider attacked out of a 4-rider front group on the penultimate lap and held off Matthias Krizek (Febermayr) and Daniel Schorn (Bora-Argon 18) to take the win.

2015 has been a breakthrough year for Marco Haller who has clearly improved his level significantly. A few weeks ago he crowned it with a victory in the Tour des Fjords and with a strong showing in the Tour de Suisse where he nearly won the penultimate stage, he was selected for the Tour de France.

Today he put his good form on show when he won his first Austrian road race championships, dethroning two-time winner Riccardo Zoidl (Trek). He had made it into a 14-rider group that escaped early in the race and from there it was a gradual elimination.

In the finale, Haller only had Daniel Schorn, Matthias Krizek and Michael Gogl (Tirol) for company but despite his skills as a sprinter he refused to wait for a sprint. Instead, he attacked on the penultimate climb and crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of Krizek to take the win. Schorn was 1.13 behind in third on the 192km course in Güssing.

Haller will wear the jersey in the Tour de France, meaning that the national tunic will be absent when the Tour of Austria starts in a week.