Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) sprinted to victory in front of the famous Vienna Burgtheater on the eighth and final stage of the Tour of Austria. The Italian was a clear winner over Martin Velits and Roger Kluge. Fredrik Kessiakoff held on to his yellow jersey, taking the win ahead of this year's surprise, Czech rider Leopold König (NetApp) and the Spaniard Carlos Sastre. König also won the young rider's competition, Greg van Avermaet took the points classification. Nicolas Edet donned the mountains jersey, while Astana prevailed in the teams classification.
It was Bennati's first race back after a long injury break. "I really suffered the last few days," he said after the race. "The victory today was the biggest surprise even for myself." Bennati is coming in form early for the next big objective, the Vuelta a España. "With my teammates Davide Vigano and Robert Wagner we already practiced for the bunch sprints at the Vuelta. I hope that it will be going equally well there."
Kessiakoff is the fourth Swedish winner at the Tour of Austria. He took over the lead at the climbing stage to the Kitzbüheler Horn. He was never in danger of losing it and surprised with a very strong time trial yesterday. "I am really happy," he said after crossing the line in Vienna. "This is the biggest win in my cycling career." He was a mountain biker before turning his eyes on the road. "I can't compare this success today with my World Championships medal in cross-country. That was a different sports life," he said with regards to his 2006 bronze medal.
Austrian Thomas Rohregger (Leopard Trek) always does well in the Tour of Austria. He won it in 2008, was second in 2007 and fourth in 2006.This year was another fourth place, which was slightly outside his goal of a podium finish. But he finished as best Austrian, between Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov (both Geox-TMC). He clearly enjoys racing at home. "It was a cycling fiesta on the final day. The atmosphere in Vienna was incredible." Sportswise, he had some celebration on Sunday as well. "For my team it was a perfect ending with Daniele's' [win]."
Shortly after the start, there was a six-man break forming. Dominik Hrinkow, Mads Christensen, Michal Kwiatowski, Timothy Roe, Alexandr Pliuschin and Mitchell Docker gained a maximum lead of just over a minute. They kept their lead onto the final circuit. But after three of the ten laps, the peloton had ended the race for the sextet.