Zoidl falls, Ballabio convinced: drama on the Upper Austria tour!

Zoidl falls, Ballabio convinced: drama on the Upper Austria tour!

Steyr, Österreich - Today the starting shot for the second stage of the Upper Austria tour, which led the cycling professionals from Eferding to Ried im Innkreis. There was an intensive competition over a distance of 178.1 kilometers, peppered with 2,120 meters of altitude. The Hrinkow Advarics team was able to convince with a closed team performance. In the end, the Swiss Giacomo Ballabio sprinted to a respectable ninth place. In the meantime, Riccardo Zoidl was less lucky: he fell, but luckily remained unharmed, there were only a few abrasions, whereby his teammates quickly helped him back to the top.

The race was characterized by an active start, where many teams tried to take the escape to the front. But all outliers were finally caught up by the main field and so there was a gripping mass sprint. Carlos Garcia Trejo from Team Petrolike was the first to cross the finish line, but after protests by Marcin Budzinski (Team Att Investments) and Bartlomiej Proc (Team Runrace Wibatech), Budzinski was awarded the daily victory. His time was 4:12:49 hours, despite the controversy around the decision.

The next challenge is

Tomorrow the cycling professionals will continue with the third stage. This starts at 12:15 p.m. in Bad Schallerbach and leads the drivers to the destination in Aigen in the Mühlkreis through 141 kilometers with 2,310 meters of altitude. In this context, the Hrinkow Advarics team is also looking forward to the upcoming Tour of Austria, which begins on July 4th in Steyr. This tour will be an important way to prepare for the big event, because the Slovakia tour already offered a strong competition and was shaped by World Tour teams and pro-teams, including with prominent drivers such as Julian Alaphilippe and Peter Sagan.

The Tour of Austria itself will be held from July 9th to 13th, 2025 and presents the drivers in front of a demanding route with a total of five stages and three mountain arrivals. Thomas Pupp, the tour director, has already announced that the tour will be made compact and challenging. The first stage on July 9 runs over 167.8 kilometers with 2,433 meters of altitude and starts for the first time in Steyr, which as the host acts for the sixth time. Riccardo Zoidl, the last Austrian Tours winner, expresses respect for the route and expects exciting duels.

TV transmission and exciting participants

The tour will be held up in the media this year, including daily live broadcasts by K19, ORF, Servus TV and Eurosport. This enables bike lovers and fans to follow the performance of the athletes up close.

All in all, the cycling community is standing before exciting days. While Team Hrinkow Advarics looks forward to the number of challenges, the current results underline that every detail can be decisive in this sport.