Upper Austria bike tour: It starts in Linz – and with pain

180 kilometers up and down on Friday to the Innviertel, immediately followed by the relentless hills of the Mühlviertel on Saturday and on Sunday as the final executioner then the difficult mountain finish on the Hutterer Höss – the 13th Raiffeisen Upper Austria Cycle Tour is not stingy with challenges, but of all things the short prologue of the tour (from 6.20 p.m.) again lets some drivers not sleep peacefully.

It starts in Linz – and how. It is just 650 meters from the main square through the old town up to the castle museum. But they have it all. “It hurts right from the start,” said Daan Soete at the award ceremony last year. The Belgian won the unusual start in time trial mode, in which a driver is sent on a journey every 45 seconds, even in 2021. At that time in 1:03:24 minutes, a full average of 40 km/h, although 37 meters in altitude and still rough cobblestones have to be overcome. It will be difficult to beat this best time this time, although there is a special bonus for the first rider under the one-minute barrier from Upper Austria’s cycling president Paul Resch.

“The fastest will certainly pedal up to 1600 watts at times, actually unimaginable for the average consumer,” says tour spokesman Walter Ameshofer. The uphill sprint is something for powerful riders with a special punch. The victory hat-trick is not made easy for Soete, who is again approaching the 13th edition with his team Deschacht-Hens-Maes. “In the provisional entry list that the teams send to us, there are names like Laurens Sweeck, after all the current number one in the world cyclocross rankings, or Roger Kluge, multiple world champion on the track and also a stage winner at the Giro d’ Italia. We have a great starting field,” says Ameshofer, who, like in recent years, also has the former world champion in the mountain bike eliminator, Daniel Federspiel, on his account.

The drivers, for whom the overall classification and thus the yellow jersey are at stake in the tour, must also make a good impression for better or for worse. “Even if the decision will definitely be made on Sunday at the Höss – you have to make up for every second you lose here at the start,” warns Wels captain Riccardo Zoidl, a winner in 2013, one of the big favorites. “You can’t win the race here, but you can lose it,” says his opponent in the dress of Hrinkow Steyr, Jonas Rapp.

An additional difficulty, which made the whole thing a dance on raw eggs for many last year, will not materialize this year. The weather forecast promises that there will be no rain this time.

A Lamborghini as an advance car

Incidentally, from Friday the turbo will also be ignited on the remaining three stages of the tour – not only by the professional cyclists. For the first time, a 500 hp Lamborghini will be on the road as one of the advance cars.