Movistar Team shows combative attitude in eve of Fuscher Törl

Tour of Austria (st. 3)

Anacona, Betancur -on the attack into the final climbs-, Sepúlveda, Valls Fernández all within GC group at first hilly stage in Austria, prelude to a mountain-top finish crucial for the GC.

It was finally time for some major climbs in the Tour of Austria, the Movistar Team showing its collective strength as the most numerous squad in the GC group through the ascents on stage three.

The ‘cols’ of Eibeggsattel (Cat-2) and Teichalm (Cat-1), en route to Frohnleiten (176km), left only twenty riders at the front, with five of the Blues in: Winner Anacona, Carlos Betancur, Rafa Valls, Eduardo Sepúlveda and Rubén Fernández.

Fernández -in an archive image-: one of five Blues in the GC group.

The two Colombians went on the attack to try and further reduce the field, yet it would eventually regroup to bring 50 riders together at the finish. Giovanni Visconti (NSK) won the restricted sprint in the eve of the first mountain-top finish (Wednesday 10th, st. 4, 103km), with the brutal slopes of the Fuscher Törl (HC; 13km at nearly 10%).