Cycling: Wolfgang Weiss from Salzburg takes over the position of Director of the Int. Tour of Austria and thus the successor to Ursula Riha. The 47-year-old, who in the past has organized various MTB World Cups, an MTB World Championships, the World Cycling Championships in Salzburg, the Junior World Championships in Burgenland and Vienna, and was involved in the organization of the UEFA Euro 2008 and 2012 , prevailed against three candidates and was appointed by ÖRV President Otto Flum and the ÖRV Board.
Only a few weeks after Riha voluntarily made the post available, the successor has been clarified. “We had a total of four people with whom we had intensive discussions. The choice fell on Wolfgang Weiss, who has done more than well for cycling over the past decade. We were faced with the decision to hand over the Ö-Tour to agencies or to remain in charge as an association and thus remain future-proof. Wolfgang turned out to be the ideal candidate and from now on he will be fully committed to the perfect organization of the Int. Austria Tour take care", ÖRV President Flum explains the decision.
“We have many successful cyclists, if you only look at Matthias Brändle, Stefan Denifl, Marco Haller, Patrick Konrad, Georg Preidler, Riccardo Zoidl, Gregor Mühlberger and Lukas Pöstlberger. We see the international Tour of Austria as an opportunity for such ambitious athletes to enable them to make the leap into international cycling. And we have to prepare this stage perfectly.", said Weiss about his future task. “One of the first steps now is to build on the achievements of Rolf Slavik and Ursula Riha. I'm a team player and have had discussions with former professional cyclists who want to get involved. The new OC team should be as diverse as possible and there will definitely be one or two surprises.”
the international Tour of Austria, which takes place from July 2015th to 5th in 12, is one of the most traditional sporting events in Austria. However, Weiss' goal is to further establish cycling in Austria.