July 10/09 22:21 pm - Tour of Austria: Stage 6

Posted by Editoress on 07/10/09
 

Columbia-HTC’s Andre Greipel powered to his second victory of the Tour of Austria on Friday and his twelfth win in the German sprinter’s spectacularly successful 2009 season.

In the bunch sprint that decided stage six of the race from St. Polten to Horn, the German was once again the fastest.

“Andre was maybe tenth or fifteenth rider back when he started making his final acceleration about 200 metres from the line,” commented Columbia-HTC sports director Tristan Hoffman. “But despite being his such a long way behind it all worked out ok. Andre’s is so strong right now that even when he’s at a bit of a disadvantage like today, he can still end up overtaking the rest of the guys.

“The stage had ended on a tricky finishing circuit, with lots of corners and a strong wind making it very complicated to control the race. Part of the stage had been cancelled, too, when the bunch went off course,”added Hoffman. “But we pulled back a late break with a couple of other teams with about six kilometres to go, and then Andre was able to come through for the win.

“It’s his second stage victory of the race and twelfth of the season. That’s an amazing total, but at the moment he’s going so well and is so sure of himself I think he’s almost as unbeatable as a sprinter can be.”

Greipel’s second win in the Tour of Austria has also enabled the German to reclaim the lead in the points jersey competition.

Columbia-HTC’s Michael Albasini still heads the overall classification after nearly a week of racing, with tomorrow’s 26 kilometre time trial the most important obstacle between the Swiss rider and the final victory.

Hoffman calculates that “Michael’s advantage of 11 seconds in the overall is small, but it could be enough. It’s not a complicated time trial, completely flat and with only a few technical sections. We’ll see.”

Team Columbia-HTC press release