Team Katusha rider Rudi Selig took 8th place in the bunchsprint, which ended today’s 1st stage of the 2.HC Tour of Austria.

The first stage was held between Mörbisch and Scheibbs with 206,6 km of total distance. Team Katusha was very active, spending almost all day in front of the peloton, controlling the breakaway and supporting the yellow jersey Rudi Selig. At 20 km to go the daily break was neutralized, while later all was decided in the bunch sprint, won by Sondre Holst Enger from IAM Cycling ahead of Paolo Simion from Bardiani – CSF and Gerald Ciolek from MTN-Qhubeka. Rudi Selig was 8th.

"Our team did a very good race today. We tried to control the situation. Vladimir Isaychev and Gatis Smukulis did a great job, working in front the whole day and controlling all attacks and breaks. At one of the intermediate sprints Rudi Selig was able to get 3 bonus seconds, but unfortunately it was not enough to hold the yellow jersey. It was a good race for our team; now we are looking forward to the next stages," said Team Katusha sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

After stage 1 Gerald Ciolek took the lead in the general classification; Rudi Selig moved down to second place with the same time as the GC leader.

Tomorrow it is the second stage of the Tour of Austria – 196,2 km from Litschau to Grieskirchen.