One day after his surprise fourth place in the mountain prologue, Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) confirmed his outstanding form by taking an impressive victory in the bunch sprint on the first stage of the Tour of Austria. After his team had worked all day, he held off Andrea Pasqualon (Roth) and Yannick Martinez (Delko) in the final dash to the line and also moved into the race lead.

We have gathered a few reactions.

Nicola Ruffoni: I have been looking for this win for a long time

Bardiani-CSF has taken its fourth win in 2016 thanks to a powerful sprint of Nicola Ruffoni in stage one of Tour of Austria. The Italian sprinter, 25 years old, claimed his second win as professional (the first came at Tour de Poitou-Charentes in 2014) by beating Pasqualon, Team Roth, and Martinez, Delko Marseille. Thanks to the great effort and 4th place in yesterday’s prologue, Ruffoni has taken the GC leadership (+5” Pasqualon, +7” Clarke) and points jersey (-3 points Pasqualon, -5 Vanotti).

“I’m really happy for this win. I have been looking for it for a long time,” said Ruffoni. “During my first year as a pro I won, then I had a season full of places of honour and this one started with a lot of bad luck. I crashed at Mediterraneenne and Malaysia, I had to stop for a month. At the Giro d’Italia I had a positive start but, after 12 stages, I had to withdraw due to bronchitis.

“Today I finally cast aside the tension to win. Since the morning the team and I knew it was a great chance. My mates did an amazing job. We took the responsibility to manage the race, we set the pace and we caught the breakaway. The final km was not easy, with a lot of bends. I never lost the first positions and followed the Delko Marseille train. 300 meters from the line I opened the gas and sprinted. 

“Everything was perfect and now the goal is finding a new one. During the last months, the team never stopped pushing me. I wanted to repay their confidence. There will be other good chances at the Tour of Austria and I look forward to being competitive again.

 ”My team has worked hard to get back to the leading trio. This is just a spectacular day for me and I want to attack again tomorrow“.

Ruffoni’s win arrived after the the taken by Colbrelli at GP of Lugano, by Pirazzi in the 4th stage of Settimana Coppi and Bartali and by Ciccone on the 10th stage of the Giro d’Italia. In 2016 Ruffoni took 5th place on the 3rd stage of the Tour of Croatia and 5th place on the 2nd stage of the Giro d’Italia, as well as 4th place in yesterday’s prologue. He has had six top ten results. 

Young Austrian in the top 5 in home sprint

Daniel Auer (Team Felbermayr Simplon Wels) placed 5th and was today’s best Austrian rider.

“Unfortunately I felt blocked 200m before the finish line and couldn’t move as I had hoped for,” he said.

Alessandro Vanotti takes mountains jersey in Austria 

"I'm working hard to get back to 100% and this polka dot jersey confirms me that I am on the right track,” said Alessandro Vanotti, protagonist in a long breakaway. The Italian crashed during the off-season.

"We have been on the attack for more than 100km and it is shame that my breakaway mate tried to get to the finish line alone. Together we could even have played for the stage victory”.

His Astana teammate Arman Kamyshev is in sixth place overall.

"We are still leading the teams classification and this is certainly a good result,” commented sport director Goradz Stangelj.