Davide De Pretto sprinted to victory on stage one of the Tour of Austria to give the Italian all-rounder his first professional win in his debut season with Team Jayco AlUla.
It was only a matter of time before the 22-year-old threw his hands in the air, after he showed his strength and class in the first half of the season with multiple podium finishes.
The success didn´t end there for Team Jayco AlUla, with German powerhouse, Max Walscheid moving into the overall race lead with four stages to go after picking up three bonus seconds during the day.
Stage one of the race saw the peloton tackle 177.9km around the Austrian region of Bad Tatzmannsdorf and the day proved to be a perfect opportunity for De Pretto on the hilly final circuits as the neo-pro moved himself into the winning position and used his powerful sprint to take the win ahead of Rui Oliveira.
Davide De Pretto (1st on stage 1):
¨I feel really happy. The team was super strong today and we controlled the race from the start with Plapp. For me to win was not the plan as we had Max Walscheid for the win, but the last climb was really hard for him and I was in a good position to go for the win.
I am really happy for my first win, this is a dream for me. From the start of the year I´ve been wanting my first professional win and it has arrived now and I´m really happy.¨
Max Walscheid (1st on GC):
¨It was a pretty good day for the team and everybody is really happy. We initially had the plan to go for the sprint with me and I also felt pretty good. I knew the final would be very hard but the guys did a good job and I drifted through the peloton on the hills and was always in position for the next one, but unfortunately the last hard climb turned out to be a little too much for me.
I could barely hang onto the peloton and was not able to be in a good enough position for the sprint, but luckily that was no problem for us because we were able to set up and secure the victory with Davide, so now we are leading the race with me and Davide winning the first stage so it was a super day!¨
Tour of Austria – Stage 1 Results:
1. Davide De Pretto (Team Jayco AlUla) 3:38:52
2. Rui Oliveira (UAE-Emirates) ST
3. Nikalas Behrens (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) ST
Tour of Austria – General Classification:
1. Max Walscheid (Team Jayco AlUla) 3:42:29
2. Fillipo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) ST
3. Rui Oliveira (UAE Emirates) ST
Photo: Tour of Austria
