Tour of the Alps UCI 2.HC – Team Vorarlberg Santic with a great success!

Swiss Pro Rider Roland Thalmann in fight with Nibali, Froome and Majka!

What was that for a week! Team Vorarlberg Santic has been invited with a wild card to the Tour of the Alps UCI 2.HC. With it numerous World Tour Teams:

Team Sky with Chris Froome (GBR) // Bahrain-Merida with Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) // Team Astana with Pello Bilbao (ESP) // BORA-hansgrohe with Rafael Majka (POL) // AG2R la Mondiale with Alex Vuillermoz (FRA) and much other Pro Continental Teams!

Stages report:

The tour (5 days, 770 kilometers, 13 000 vertical meters) started in Kufstein (AUT) and finished in Bolzano (ITA). All stages were broadcast live in over 100 countries (Eurosport, RAI Sport, …), because the Top Stars are in high level before start to Giro d Italia.
What a happy start to the first stage. The Swiss team Vorarlberg Santic Profi is sensationally third behind the British winners Geoghegan (Team Sky) and Aranburu (SPA / Caja Rujal). Chris Froome (Team Sky) is sixth.

On the second stage (King stage over the Jaufenpass 2100 at meters) Thalmann finished eleventh. His teammate Maximilian Kuen (AUT) wins the sprint and is the new leader in the sprint jersey – a great experience for this young rider!

The third stage was very short, but super difficult. Always up and down, very narrow streets and a lot of hectic in the bunch. Again, the Team Vorarlberg Santic captain Roland Thalmann attacks and ends the stage as great ninth. Vincenzo Nibali and Rafael Majka attacked many times, but are put back. Maximilian Kuen successfully defended his sprint jersey.

Roland Thalmann had to pay his tribute to the fourth stage. He is 20th and falls back to 16th place in the overall standings. Chris Froome, Nibali, Majka and the Astana team set off fireworks. But the Team Vorarlberg Santic fought great and all TV moderators give them much positives comments!

Then today’s last stage of the tour. What was that for a fight by Roland Thalmann! The team Vorarlberg Santic Rookie has attacked in the rain stage and finishes fifth in the final. In seventh place Vincenzo Nibali. 14. Majka, 17. Chris Froome. Everyone has lost time on Thalmann. He improves from 16th place to the super strong ninth place overall on the last stage in Italy. A sensational performance in the midst of world stars.

Top 15 Result in general Tour of the Alps 2019:

  1. 55*SIVAKOV Pavel RUS Team Sky 18:58:00
  2. 53 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao GBR Team Sky 18:58:27 + 0:27
  3. 1 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA Bahrain – Merida 18:58:33 + 0:33
  4. 93 CATTANEO Mattia ITA Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec 18:59:03 + 1:03
  5. 95 MASNADA Fausto ITA Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec 18:59:13 + 1:13
  6. 13 MAJKA Rafal POL BORA – Hansgrohe 18:59:46 + 1:46
  7. 24 HIRT Jan CZE Astana Pro Team 19:00:03 + 2:03
  8. 23 CATALDO Dario ITA Astana Pro Team 19:00:58 + 2:58
  9. 142 THALMANN Roland SUI Team Vorarlberg Santic 19:01:14 + 3:14
  10. 41*VLASOV Aleksandr RUS Gazprom – Rusvelo 19:02:27 + 4:27
  11. 52 FROOME Chris GBR Team Sky 19:02:57 + 4:57
  12. 36 VUILLERMOZ Alexis FRA AG2R La Mondiale 19:03:12 + 5:12
  13. 27 ZEITS Andrey KAZ Astana Pro Team 19:05:23 + 7:23
  14. 121 BIZKARRA ETXEGIBEL Mikel ESP Euskadi Basque Country – Murias 19:05:23 + 7:23
  15. 6 PERNSTEINER Hermann AUT Bahrain – Merida 19:05:45 + 7:45 

Maximilian Kuen is second in the overall sprint classification. A great success for “Maxi”!
AND Team Vorarlberg Santic finishes this difficult tour as the best Continental Team in ninth place (20 teams in summary).

Congratulations to all riders and Staff members on this success. Now the peoples know the team all over the worldJ!

Summary for the first appearance at the Tour of the Alps – Thomas Kofler (Team Manager):
“Before the tour, we did not know where the team is on the level of performance. Numerous World Tour team riders are here and getting in shape for the Giro. The first day has triggered a liberation in the team with the sensational third place by Roland. Today’s graduation just sensational with place five and overall. I can`t say more about that. The riders have won their place with confidence in the field. When Chris Froome looks back and puts our riders in the gap, this is more than a passport of acceptance. The cohesion in the team is really great – and that’s the most important thing when you want to appear as a unit and show yourself.
The downer was the hand injury of Geismayr. That’s a pity, but we hope to be back soon. In summary, one can be proud of our appearance on this tour of the Alps – after all, it is a Horse Category Tour. We are sure that this experience will help the young riders of us for the rest of the season! “

Squad: Maximilian Kuen, Gordian Banzer, Patrick Schelling, Roland Thalmann, Colin Stüssi, Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego

Stages Tour of the Alps (AUT/ITA) UCI 2.HC:

22/4 Stage 1 – Kufstein › Kufstein (144k)

23/4 Stage 2 – Reith im Alpbachtal › Schenna (178.7k)

24/4 Stage 3 – Salurn › Baselga di Pinè (106.3k)

25/4 Stage 4 – Baselga di Pinè › Cles (134k)

26/4 Stage 5 – Kaltern › Bozen (148.7k)

Resultat: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-of-the-alps/2019/stage-5

Infos: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-of-the-alps/2019/overview