HTC-Columbia's André Greipel clinched his thirteenth win of the 2010 season on Sunday when he won the the opening stage of the Tour of Austria in a bunch sprint in the town of Bludenz.

"The stage's terrain wasn't too hard but we had to work a lot to pull back a break and then take control of the race again in the final kilometres," commented HTC-Columbia's Sports Director Tristan Hoffman.  "There were three riders away most of the day and we got the whole team working so we could catch them with about 20 kilometres to go.  Then the other teams tried to make life difficult for us in the last two kilometres, but we were able to stay in control, and André won."

According to Hoffman, the team's plan for Austria's opening stage had always been to work for Greipel.  "It was a very flat stage, just a few small climbs at the start, so it was pretty clear we would be looking at a bunch sprint. André was very motivated, too, and he'd had a small break after his last race, the Ster ElektroToer, which helped him recover and get ready for Austria. The result showed he was in good shape, too!"

On a great day's racing for HTC-Columbia Sunday, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg took her third straight win in stage three of the Giro Donne in Italy.