Alexandre Geniez wins 4th stage as Kessiakoff takes overall lead in 2011 Int.Osterreich-Rundfahrt
Skil – Shimano team’s Alexandre Geniez won the fourth stage of 2011 Int.Osterreich-Rundfahrt on Wednesday, July 6. Fredrik Kessiakoff took the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in Matrei in Osttirol and ended in St. Johann/Alpendorf. The 23-year-old French cyclist took a total of 5 hours, 30 minutes and 9 seconds to cover the overall distance of 199.3 kilometres.
After the victory, Geniez was very happy and told the media, “That was incredible, the race of my life, and the hardest 200 kilometers, this is by far my biggest success.”
Johannes Fröhlinger of Skil – Shimano was the runner-up with 15 seconds behind Geniez, while Alexandr Pliuschin of Katusha finished third with a difference of 36 seconds.
The race leader, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Pro Team Astana), was in good form and tried his best to take a lead, but he was unable to maintain his pace and grabbed the fourth place with a difference of 41 seconds.
A group of seven riders made their first breakaway, including David Wöhrer (Tyrol Team), Dominik Hrinkow (Team Vorarlberg), Alexandre Geniez (Skil-Shimano), Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank-Sungard), Jean-Eudes Demaret (Cofidis), Martin Kohler (BMC Racing) and
Andreas Dietziker (NetApp).
All of them gained an advantage of more than three minutes, while Andreas Dietziker took the first sprint, ahead of Manuele Boaro. With 122.9 kilometres left, Martin Kohler maintained his pace and took a lead in the second sprint, but Mads Christensen attacked
and build a lead in the third sprint of the stage, ahead of Martin.
Nicolas Edet retained his overall mountain standing lead with 38 points. Geniez was in the second spot with one point down to Edet. Leopold Konig won the title of best young rider ahead of Petr Ignatenko and Chris Butler.
Fredrik took overall classification with a timing of 16 hours, 54 minutes and 37 seconds, while Mauro Santambrogio was the runner-up with 1 minute and 18 seconds, behind Fredrik. Leopold Konig finished third with a difference of 1 minute and 26 seconds.
The next stage will start in St. Johann/Alpendorf and end in Schladming. All the cyclists will cover the distance of 157.2 kilometres.
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