Stage 1 of Tour of Austria was concluded in a bunch sprint decision, where IAM’s Sondre Holst Enger proved the fastest. Tinkoff-Saxo, with a squad of climbers, had its focus on conserving as much energy as possible for the days in the mountains that the riders will face later on in the nine-day race.
 
Nicki Sørensen, Tinkoff-Saxo sports director, notes that the team kept Robert Kiserlovski and Pawel Poljanski at the front going into the final sprint in order to keep the two safe.
 
“There’s not so much to say about today’s stage. It was a traditional sprinter’s stage and we don’t have any sprinters on our squad, so for us it was about conversing our strength and making sure that we got through the stage safely. Robert and Pawel were well positioned going into the final part and the sprint and overall I see that our team is in good shape and ready for the stages to come” says Nicki Sørensen.

Stage 1 of Tour of Austria consisted of 206.6km of fairly flat terrain, where the sprinter’s teams worked to ensure a sprint conclusion. Ultimately, it was Sondre Holst Enger (IAM), who proved the fastest in the final burst for the line, while Robert Kiserlovski finished 15th.

Meanwhile, the race jury reached a decision in relation to the complaint filed by Tinkoff-Saxo after an organizational mistake at the start of the opening TTT had delayed half of the team squad on the starting ramp with at least 15 seconds.
 
“The jury just reached a decision following the stage finish. We will be compensated 10 seconds due to the delay, while the jury takes full responsibility for the mistake. Our compensation is calculated from the start time of the seventh rider, so in that sense the time loss and compensation correspond. We can’t be satisfied with the time loss, as we lost more than 10 seconds, but it’s difficult to calculate. So we are satisfied with the decision but definitely not with the time loss. We will now direct our attention to the many remaining stages”, finishes Nicki Sørensen, who expects another sprint decision on Monday’s stage to Grieskirchen.