Having gone into the Tour of Austria queen stage in second overall, Oliver Zaugg suffered on the steep Kitzbüheler Horn and slipped to fourth in the GC. His teammate Rory Sutherland tried to go for glory by joining the early break but was unable to keep up with stage winner Dayer Quintana.

In Austria it was a moment of truth for the GC riders, including Tinkoff-Saxo’s Oliver Zaugg as the 206 kilometer long third stage of Tour of Austria starting in Bad Ischl held a surprise in form of a cruel and steep uphill finish on Kitzbüheler Horn in 1670 meters altitude.

A handful of riders including Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rory Sutherland and Dayer Quintana (Movistar) threatened to take the stage glory and the Sky riders started reeling them back in but at the foot of the final slope the gap was still more than two minutes. Heavy rain started to pour down on the peloton on the steep ascent but it didn’t stop Nairo Quintana’s younger brother from leaving the shelter of the break and continue on his own while Sutherland was left behind.

The leading rider, Peter Kennaugh (Sky) was isolated with 6 kilometers to go and Quintana was now cruising his way to stage success while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Oliver Zaugg was dropped from the Kennaugh group that soon past Sutherland as well. The Columbian rider conquered the stage win in his first season as a pro rider.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Oliver Zaugg finished behind Kennaugh and is now 4th overall while Peter Kennaugh (Sky) retained his overall lead.

Rory Sutherland says:

“It was a very long stage and to conclude it by going up Kitzbüheler Horn took everything out of the legs. I was in a good group of riders but simply couldn’t follow Quintana and then decided to support Oliver as he came up to me. The climb was tremendously steep at the top in particular with gradients of up to 23 per cent and an average of 14 but we got the most out the day in my opinion. There are several climbs left to do in this race and we’ll continue riding hard and I’m sure we have some good opportunities of success,” concluded Sutherland.