The 2011 Tour of Austria will cover 11,710 meters of climbing, in what the race organizers call a “very good mix” of stages. The race runs July 3-10, from Dornbirn to Vienna, and hopes for another Austrian winner.
"We have three very difficult mountain stages, an individual time trial, two absolutely flat stages for the sprinters and two stage with rolling terrain for escape groups or sprinters,” race director Ursula Riha said.
The race is already assured of having three top Austrian riders. Thomas Rohregger, the last Austrian to win the race, is now with Leopard Trek, as is Stefan Denifl, who finished seventh last year as best Austrian. Also there will be Matthias Brändle (Geox-TMC)
Eighteen teams will take part, with 14 of them being ProTour and Professional Continental. In fact, Riha said, she had to turn some teams down. “The race has a very good reputation and many wanted to be here. But for security reasons we will let 'only' 18 teams start.”
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The first stage from Dornbirn to Götzis is a sprinters' stage, but the second one features a mountaintop finish at the Kitzbüheler Horn (1,670 meters). The third stage is another one for the climbers, with the category one-ranked climbs Felbertauren and Pustertaler Hochalpenstrasse.
The fourth and longest stage features the Großglockner, also in this year's Giro d'Italia, to finish off the major climbing. From there, the fifth stage is more rolling, with a nearly flat sixth stage leading into the totally flat 30 km time trial on stage seven. The final stage has its traditional finish on a circuit course in the national capital of Vienna.
Stages of the 63. Internationalen Österreich Rundfahrt:
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1st Stage, Sunday, July 3: Dornbirn - Götzis, 147,8 km 2nd Stage, Monday, July 4: Innsbruck - Kitzbüheler Horn, 158,2 km 3rd. Stage, Tuesday, July 5: Kitzbühel - Prägraten am Großvenediger, 173,9 km 4th Stage, Wednesday, July 6: Matrei in Osttirol - St. Johann/Alpendorf, 199,5 km 5th Stage, Thursday, July 7: Juli: St. Johann/Alpendorf - Schladming, 157,2 km 6th Stage, Friday, July 8: Hainburg an der Donau - Bruck an der Leitha, 155 km 7th Stage, Saturday July 9: Podersdorf am Neusiedler See (ITT), 30,1 km 8th Stage, Sunday, July 10: Podersdorf am Neusiedler See - Wien/Ringstraße, 122,8 km<
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