Clement Venturini (Cofidis) proved that he is a huge sprint talent by taking his first major pro win on stage 3 of the Tour of Austria. In a technical, dangerous finale, he easily beat Andrea Pasqualon (Roth) and Sjoerd van Ginneken (Roompot) and moved into second in the overall standings. Pasqualon is the new leader after Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) was dropped on the final climb.

We have gathered a few reactions.

Clement Venturini: This is the biggest achievement of my career

“I participated in the race last year and became second in Grieskirchen,” Venturini said. I’m overjoyed about today’s stage win! This is the biggest achievement of my career.”

Andrea Pasqualon moves into the lead at the Tour of Austria

Team Roth from Switzerland has reasons to celebrate: Andrea Pasqualon became second on this stage from Mondsee to Steyr and took over the yellow leader’s jersey. His colleague Matthias Krizek scored a ninth place and was the best Austrian rider.

“At Porscheberg the yellow jersey got dropped and everyone scrambled to bring the time advantage of the group to the finish line. We were successful and were rewarded with the yellow leader’s jersey,” clearly happy Krizek stated.

Teammate Pasqualon, who won a stage at the 2013 Tour du Limousin, was confident.

“The finale was pretty hectic and I’m overjoyed about my second place. Now it’s only a matter of time until I become a leader“

"I am more than happy that we got the yellow jersey today. The team did a super work for me and I want to thank everybody for the support and the confidence."

Kazakh mixes it up in Austrian bunch sprint

"My job was to stay close to Arman Kamyshev, then in the end I tried to do the sprint,” said Astana’s Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev at the end of the second stage.

Eighth at the finish line of Steyr, he is still satisfied: "I come from a Passo San Pellegrino training camp and I feel good, also in view of the Tour de Pologne." 

In the overall standings, Kamyshev gained one position and is now fifth at 12 seconds from the first position. Astana Pro Team is still in the lead in the teams classification.