Isaac del Toro ready to return to action at the Tour of Austria

With the Tour de France continuing at a plomb across the windy outreaches of northern France, fans need only to look to Austria for a series of mountain showdowns between the climbers. Indeed, UAE Team Emirates-XRG can confirm its stacked squad for the upcoming Tour of Austria, which will see the peloton tackle a whopping 13,762m of elevation gain across five stages.

Beginning on Wednesday, 9 July, the 74th edition of the Int. Österreich-Rundfahrt, more commonly known as the Tour of Austria, will see UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Isaac del Toro return to racing for the first time since his breakout display at the Giro d’Italia.

Joining the Giro runner-up and stage winner at the Tour of Austria will be his teammate, Felix Großschartner, who recently won the Austrian national time trial championship for the third time in his career. Set to make his fifth start at his home race, Großschartner can look forward to five days of terrific support before the race draws to a close on Sunday, 13 July.

Having also tasted success in last week’s national championships across Europe, the recently-crowned Polish national champion, Rafał Majka, will also be in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad for the five-day Tour of Austria. That victory was the 35-year-old’s first race since the Giro d’Italia, where Majka’s excellent climbing support proved crucial to Del Toro’s starring role.

There to help the climbing trio in Austria will be Alessandro Covi. The Italian followed up a fourth-place finish at the Giro dell’Appennino with a runner-up spot at the national championships road race last week.

Rounding out a squad as capable on the flat as on the climbs will be Julius Johansen, Florian Vermeersch and Filippo Baroncini, with the latter fresh off the back of his first-ever GC victory, taken at the Baloise Belgium Tour. Baroncini finished with a silver medal at last week’s Italian national time trial championships and heads into Austria buoyed with confidence.

Leading the squad from the team car will be Sports Directors Tomas Gil and Manuele Mori.

Rune Herregodts had been set to race the Tour of Austria but was ruled out following a training crash where he suffered a right clavicle fracture. The Belgian will undergo surgery and recover at home. We wish him a speedy comeback.

Between home favourite Großschartner and race debutant Del Toro, plenty of eyes will be on the Emirati squad over the coming five days. For Del Toro, a return to racing has him eager to get going.

Del Toro: “I’m excited to get back to racing. The Giro was an amazing experience for me. It went better than I ever could have expected and now I’m just focused on growing and learning as a rider and continuing my season with that mentality.

“We have a strong team for Austria with Felix also as a local favourite so we aim to be competitive. It’s my first time at this race and I’m looking forward to discovering this beautiful country.”

Still only 21 years of age, Del Toro has enjoyed a fantastic season to date. After his victory at Milano-Torino in the spring, the Mexican produced a history-making performance at the Giro d’Italia, becoming the youngest rider to finish on the podium since Fausto Coppi in 1940. Along the way, he enjoyed 11 days in the maglia rosa and won stage 17 of the race in style.

His return will be a welcome one as UAE Team Emirates-XRG bids to retain the Tour of Austria title, taken by Diego Ulissi in 2024. The Italian won a stage on his way to the overall win, following up on the stage success achieved by Pascal Ackermann of the Emirati squad in 2023.

This time around, there will be plenty of opportunities for UAE Team Emirates-XRG to go on the attack, with only one of the five stages featuring less than 2,000m of climbing. The first day will bring a rolling route to and from Steyr, where the more versatile sprinters in the bunch will get their chance.

Bringing the all-important GC showdown, stages 2, 3 and 4 will all finish uphill across a variety of difficult slopes. Heading deep into the Austrian Alps, stage 2 looks perfect for puncheurs, with the final 2.7km to the line averaging 6.5% with maximum gradients of a shade under 15%. This will prove puncheur paradise before a true summit finish on Friday afternoon.

Heading to the top of the Gaisberg, stage 3 will conclude with a 7.6km-long climb that averages 7.9% and ramps up well beyond 17% at its steepest. Expect the strongest climbers to emerge here and look to press home their advantage on stage 4’s Queen stage.

Coinciding with a popular local sportive known as the Kühtai Rodeo, stage 4 will see the peloton climb the challenging slopes to the Kühtai winter sports resort on two occasions, the final of which acts as the summit finish.

This day is made all the tougher by the final category 1 ascent, which leads into the final climb. The Ötztal Sattele climb stands at 10.3% for 9.7km, preceding the last climb up Kühtai Bergbahnen at 7.1% for 5.9km, with maximum pitches of 18.5%. Saturday’s stage is no easy test.

To round out the week, stage 5 contains no summit finish, but it does include 3,396m of elevation gain, before the overall winner is crowned at the foot of the Schattenburg. This will be the first time that the Tour of Austria has contested a mountain stage in the Ländle region, and the streets of Feldkirch promise an entertaining spectacle to round out this year’s race.