The 75th edition of Austria’s biggest cycling event follows in the footsteps of the very first Tour of Austria held in 1949. On July 10, the Lidl Tour of Austria will once again visit Lienz in East Tyrol, just as it did during that inaugural edition.
Stage 3 of the Lidl Tour of Austria, covering 188.7 kilometres and 2,311 metres of elevation gain, will start on July 10, 2026, in one of the most traditional stage host towns in the Tour’s 75-year history: Lienz in East Tyrol. The district capital last appeared on the route in 2015, and this year the race caravan will visit East Tyrol for the 32nd time. The stage will begin at 10:40 a.m. on Lienz’s main square. The neutralized section consists of a three-kilometre loop along Tiroler Straße, Amlacher Straße, and Tristacher Straße. Back at Europaplatz, the first sprint points of the day will be contested before the riders head towards the Felbertauern Pass. After passing Matrei in East Tyrol, mountain classification points will be awarded at the Felbertauernstüberl and shortly afterwards at the toll station, where further points for the King of the Mountains jersey are up for grabs. The Lidl Tour of Austria then bids farewell to East Tyrol and heads towards Salzburg, with the finish in St. Johann/Alpendorf expected at around 2:45 p.m.
Cycling Without East Tyrol? Unthinkable!
The roots of cycling in East Tyrol go back a long way. As early as 1876, Austria’s first cycling club was founded in Lienz, making East Tyrol one of the pioneering regions of Austrian cycling.
Another milestone followed in 1951 with the first edition of the Dolomitenradrundfahrt (Tour of the Dolomites), which will take place again next Sunday around the Lienz Dolomites together with its extreme version, the SuperGiroDolomiti. Among other highlights, the route includes the notorious Monte Zoncolan.
“In the same year, Lienz was also a stage host of the very first Tour of Austria. Both events will celebrate their 75th anniversary in 2026,” says Franz Theurl, Chairman of the East Tyrol Tourism Board.
Felix Gall Writes a New Chapter in Cycling History
“With the international successes of Felix Gall, a new chapter is being added to East Tyrol’s long and proud cycling tradition. For a region that has consistently invested in cycling tourism for decades, the rise of a local athlete to the highest international level provides an enormous boost – in sporting, tourism, and economic terms,” explains Theurl.
Over the past decades, East Tyrol has repeatedly served as a stage for major international cycling events. The Giro d’Italia, Giro del Trentino, Tour of Austria, Tour of the Alps, and numerous national championships have helped establish the region around the Lienz Dolomites as a globally recognized cycling destination.
This continuous development has also shaped the local population and sparked a strong enthusiasm for competitive cycling. Felix Gall himself is a symbol of this evolution. Back in 2014, at just 15 years of age, the East Tyrolean completed the Dolomitenradrundfahrt in the remarkable time of 3 hours and 14 minutes. Even then, this extraordinary performance attracted considerable attention and was regarded as an early sign of exceptional talent. “Felix Gall embodies the current cycling boom. His home region of East Tyrol benefits from it just as much as the Tour of Austria, the most beautiful sightseeing tour in the country,” says Tour Director Thomas Pupp.
