The 49th Int. Upper Austrian Insurance Junior Tour 2024 continued on Saturday with the 2nd stage with start and finish in Sarleinsbach. On the intensive 116.5 kilometers with a total of 1,845 meters of elevation to be covered, the cycling stars of the future were pretty much demanded of everything. From the beginning, a high pace was set and one attack following the other was launched.
Until the last of a total of six laps, no breakaway riders managed to get more than 18 seconds away from the main field. The Austrians put in a strong performance today: Valentin Hofer from Team Upper Austria not only secured a sprint classification in Sarleinsbach, but was also in contention for the stage win for a long time. The 17-year-old from Maria Schmolln is considered a great talent in local cycling and showed his skills once more today. The Austrian road champion Manolo Wrolich was also in the leading group at times.
Leader falls in the final corner
Around 20 kilometers from the finish, an 8-man leading group attacked, including Valentin Hofer from Team Upper Austria. The attentive main field was able to catch up with the breakaway riders and the peloton rode at a tremendous pace towards the finish in Sarleinsbach. Then, 10 kilometers from the finish, there was the decisive attack by four riders, who were able to save a razor-thin lead over the 70-man main field that was roaring towards them.
Photo: Reinhard Eisenbauer
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Photo: Reinhard Eisenbauer
In the final, Brandt Christiansen (Uno-X Junior Team) was the first to enter the final curve and had the best starting position for the day’s victory. However, the Danish road champion was going a little too fast and fell following the curve: Anco Ballif (Gepla-Watersley Cycling Team) from the Netherlands took the win following 2:44:42 hours, one second ahead of the Norwegian Magnus Flaterud (Asker CK Junioe) and the Dane Oskar Louwlarsen (Uno-X Junior Team). The best Austrian today was Paul Viehböck from the Austrian regional team in 25th place, 12 seconds behind. “An incredibly exciting final today in Sarleinsbach. The future cycling stars have shown how high the level is in the international junior cycling sector,” emphasises race director Helga Mitmasser.
The German Louis Grupp from the German national team leads the overall rankings. The winner of the first stage in Marchtrenk is 11 seconds ahead of the Swiss national team rider Noel Toth and 15 seconds ahead of the Belgian Jasper Verbrügge (Team Acrog-Tormans). The best Austrian is Heimo Fugger from the national team, in 22nd place, 1:08 minutes behind. This year’s important European junior race has an extremely strong field and can boast 24 teams from 16 nations. A total of 11 national champions are taking part in the tour in Upper Austria. Over 130 young professional riders from 24 nations showed in an impressive way the high level and speed of the cycling stars of the future. The tour will be decided tomorrow, Sunday.
