Team Vorarlberg scores a double victory – Ballabio and Stüssi lead the overall standings
Team Vorarlberg scores a double victory – Ballabio and Stüssi lead the overall standings
64th Tour of Malopolska: First stage from Wieliczka to Chełm (133 km)
Team Vorarlberg-Express is unstoppable: Thomas Kofler’s squad and race director Paul Renger already made their mark a few days ago at the Tour of Upper Austria with two stage wins (Kilian Feurstein and Dominik Röber). This week, the momentum continues: At the 64th Tour of Malopolska, the Vorarlberg team took the lead in the team classification right from yesterday’s prologue with second (Colin Stüssi), sixth (Giacomo Ballabio), and eighth (Dominik Röber) place finishes.
Today, it was Tobias Nolde in particular who kept Austria’s current top professional team perfectly on track all day long. As the race entered the final 5-kilometer climb, the Vorarlberg team cemented their ambitions once and for all, just as they did last year (1st place in the team classification and overall winner Alexander Konychev). The entire squad dominated the final stretch almost at will. In the end, Colin Stüssi set such a blistering pace that, aside from the Czech rider Boros, only Giacomo Ballabio could keep up—and ultimately claimed the stage victory ahead of his team captain, Stüssi. The two have now also taken the top two spots in the overall standings.
Giacomo Ballabio joined Team Vorarlberg this year. The newcomer got off to a good start. A few health issues set the Italian back a bit for a short time. “But now he’s back in full force and, with his first win for us today, has shown why we signed him,” said Paul Renger, delighted with the 28-year-old, who hails from Giussano in Lombardy.
www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-of-malopolska/2026/stage-1/result/result
Cover photo: Colin Stüssi at the award ceremony following yesterday’s prologue. The other photos show highlights from the prologue, as well as a portrait of today’s stage winner, Giacomo Ballabio.
By the way: Lesser Poland (Malopolska in the local language) is located in southern Poland and is one of the country’s most attractive tourist regions. To the south, the region borders Slovakia. The capital of Lesser Poland is Kraków.
Roster: Giacomo Ballabio, Philipp Hofbauer, Dominik Röber, Emanuel Zangerle, Colin Stüssi, Tobias Nolde
