Marco Bandiera Fought his way to a 10th place finish in the 153km Stage 1 of Tour of Austria on Sunday.
After the peloton caught the final two riders left in a five rider break with 20km to go, the field seemed settled for a sprint finish.
Alessandro Bazzana (Team Type 1 Sanofi) beat out Francesco Gavazzi (Astana Pro Team) and Marco Canola (Colnago-CSF Bardiani) for the victory.
The team will look next to the 157km stage 2 tomorrow, which includes in a tough uphill finish.
"It was very hot today, 36 degrees," Sports Director Tom Steels said. "Which was for most of the riders the first time they rode in these kind of temperatures, but it was OK. The course was harder than was expected, especially the climbs, but it was OK. At the finish, the last kilometer, Kristof Vandewalle tried to attack and was caught with 200 or 300 meters to go. It was good, he is building up his confidence after a very difficult period before and after the Giro. He is coming back on a normal level, on schedule. Other riders, Bandiera, Serge Pauwels and Frantisek Rabon were a bit too far back. For a technical finish like this, you can't really move up. Today was not bad for sure, but I think they had the power to do better."