The yellow jersey changed hands during the 183.7km third stage of the 60th Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt - Tour of Austria. Thomas Rohregger (Elk Haus - Simplon), who finished third, took over the general classification lead from Chris Anker Sørensen (Team CSC). Ukrainian Ruslan Podgornyy (LPR Brakes) won the stage by just three seconds ahead of Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Rohregger.
Podgornyy, who finished the 2006 edition of the Tour of Austria in second, dedicated his stage win to his daughter, who was celebrating her sixth birthday Wednesday. Following his win, he said he sees himself as a favourite to win the overall.
"The team of Rohregger is a strong, but the victory will be decided in the time trial on Saturday," predicted Podgornyy. "If everything is running normal, I should be able to make up the seven seconds to Rohregger, and I am convinced I'll be able to outclass riders such as Vladimir Gusev."
The Austrian Rohregger showed his climbing prowess throughout stage three, with its five mountains. "It's like a dream. I will wear the yellow jersey," said an excited Rohregger. "For the next stages, lots of work awaits my team. We are going to fight for the yellow jersey the next two days and I will do my best performance in Podersdorf."
On Thursday, racers will tackle the longest stage, number four, over 212.8km from Lienz to Wolfsberg over 216.8 km.
