Gregor Mühlberger wins Tour of Austria, ending 13-year wait for a home champion

From Tour de France snub to home triumph

Mühlberger's path to the race was unconventional. Days earlier, his professional team, Decathlon, had opted not to nominate him for the Tour de France roster despite a strong showing at the Giro d'Italia in support of Felix Gall. "Ich war am Boden zerstört," he said of the snub. On the suggestion of his wife, the decision to ride the Tour of Austria as part of the national team became, in his words, a deliberate response: "Aus der Frustration über seine Nichtnominierung wurde auf Anregung seiner Frau kurzerhand das Projekt Tour of Austria geboren."

Sunday's relatively short stage from Langenlois to Vienna posed no threat to the standings. Mühlberger crossed the line in 52nd place on the day, more than enough to seal the general classification by 1:25 over the UAE rider Kevin Vermaerke. The peloton covered 845 kilometres and 11,024 metres of climbing across the five stages, with the highest point reached on the Großglockner stage from Bad Kleinkirchheim.

A rare Austrian winner

The home victory is only the fifth Austrian success at the Tour of Austria this century. Georg Totschnig won in 2000, Gerrit Glomser in 2003 and 2004, and Thomas Rohregger in 2008, before Riccardo Zoidl became the most recent home champion in 2013. Mühlberger is also the second Austrian after Roman Humenberger in 1971 to hold the overall lead from the first stage through to the final classification.

Race organisers framed the outcome in unusually warm terms. Herbert Pupp of the organising team called Mühlberger's entry a "Jackpot" for the event. "Der Wunsch eines österreichischen Siegers war vor einiger Zeit nicht in erreichbarer Nähe, da ist einfach alles zusammengekommen," Pupp said.

Crowds and a Volkswagen-style finish

The week around the race had a carnival atmosphere even before the leader arrived in Vienna. On the 1.5-kilometre Porscheberg climb in Steyr, with gradients of more than 20 per cent, Mühlberger's nickname had been painted on the asphalt 22 times by fans. Crowds in Steyr had already been described as caught in "Mühli-Fieber" after Saturday's queen stage. On Sunday, those crowds gathered in the capital before the Burgtheater for the first time since 2014, with a Volksfeststimmung punctuating the final circuit.

Mühlberger's achievement carries a pointed asterisk: the previous Austrian winner of the Tour of Austria, Stefan Denifl, had his 2017 title stripped for doping. The 2013 result referenced this week as the benchmark belongs to Zoidl, who is still racing. Zoidl finished 30th overall on Sunday, 12 minutes back, riding for a domestic squad.

Youth movement in the breakaway

The supporting cast around the leader was unusually youthful. A four-man breakaway featuring 20-year-old Valentin Poschacher, his Slovenian team-mate Richard Riska, Polish rider Piotr Pekala and Germany's Mauro Brenner stayed clear of the peloton for about three hours before being caught. "Valentin stammt aus unserer Akademie und fährt seine erste Rundfahrt. Heute hat er alles perfekt umgesetzt und groß aufgezeigt," said team manager Alexander Hrinkow, suggesting the performance will draw the attention of top WorldTour outfits.

Behind Mühlberger, the Austrian field produced several solid results. Patrick Konrad, a former Tour de France stage winner, took third on the final stage in Vienna and finished 18th overall, 8:14 down. Philipp Hofbauer of Team Vorarlberg was the second-best Austrian, 14th overall. Jonas Holzknecht crossed the line 40th on the day, while Paul Viehböck took 52nd in the same group as Mühlberger. Adrian Stieger, Fabian Steininger, Patrick Gamper, Sebastian Putz and Riccardo Zoidl were also classified inside the top 32.

International competition was strong. The Dutch veteran Bauke Mollema finished fourth overall, 1:40 back, with Spain's Carlos Rodriguez 1:47 behind in fifth and Paul Double of Great Britain sixth. Vincenzo Albanese of Italy, Hamish McKenzie of Australia, Tibor del Grosso of the Netherlands, Andrea Bagioli of Italy and Andrew August of the United States filled the next positions. Samuel Watson of Ineos won Saturday's Steyr stage in 2:13:01 hours but slipped to second overall in the final reckoning.

What comes next for Mühlberger

Mühlberger has spent his international career with Bora, Movistar and currently Decathlon, the team that did not select him for France. According to the report, a move to Lidl-Trek and a planned start at the Vuelta a España will follow once the transfer window opens on 1 August. "Sie wird einen Ehrenplatz kriegen," Mühlberger said of the trophy, before adding that there was also cause to celebrate in the short term: "Wir werden allen Grund haben zu feiern."

Reflecting on the campaign as a whole, Mühlberger credited his team. "Ohne die Mannschaft hätte ich die Rundfahrt nicht gewinnen können," he said. "Es ist schon unglaublich, was wir da mit dem Team vom ersten Tag an gemacht haben." The 32-year-old, who lives in Vestenthal in the municipality of Haidershofen in Lower Austria, was greeted at the finish by his father Erwin, who had travelled with family friend Hans Käferböck from Steyr, where the week had begun.

Mühlberger's double of stage wins in a home Tour of Austria had not been achieved since Glomser 23 years ago, and the final margin over Vermaerke was the largest in recent memory. "Ein besseres Drehbuch hätte man nicht schreiben können," Mühlberger said of the overall narrative, from his non-selection to the wire-to-wire triumph.

Race officials confirmed the final classification shortly after 15:49 local time, with the public broadcast running live on Austrian television. The result bookended a Tour of Austria that, for the first time in over a decade, ended with a home rider on top of the podium and the streets of Vienna ringing with a familiar Austrian name.