BMC Racing Team's Brent Bookwalter finished seventh and Ben Hermans was 10th while teammate Rick Zabel crashed in the final corner Monday at the Tour of Austria.
Bookwalter said a lack of information from the race organization about the finishing circuit created a confusing and dangerous scenario at the end of the 196.1-kilometer race.
"Ben and I didn't even know we were sprinting for the win," Bookwalter said. "There is no time board and no race radios, so we did not have information on the race situation."
Zabel and another rider went down in the last corner, 150 meters from the finish line. Other than some scrapes and bruises, he was not seriously hurt.
BMC Racing Team Sport Director Valerio Piva said the nine-kilometer circuit that the riders completed before the finish was very technical.
"It was very dangerous in the last kilometer with five or six corners and a narrow road," he said. "Rick told me that he for sure was going to win if he didn't crash. So we lost the chance to do a better result."
David Tanner (IAM Cycling) took the win ahead of Clément Venturini (Cofidis, Solution Credits). Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) kept the overall lead, while Hermans climbed into seventh overall and Bookwalter into eight. Both are 11 seconds back of Ciolek.
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