The northbound Austrian columns in the Kelheim–Abbach zone run into the four French columns heading west towards Neustadt in the early hours of the 19th.

The Austrian attacks are slow, uncoordinated, and easily repulsed by the experienced French III Corps.

Napoleon knows there is fighting in Davout's sector and has already devised a new strategy that he hopes will beat the Austrians: while the Austrians attack to the north, Masséna's corps, later augmented by Oudinot's forces, will strike southeast towards Freising and Landshut in hopes of rolling up the entire Austrian line and relieving the pressure on Davout.

Napoleon is reasonably confident that the joint corps of Davout and Lefebvre can pin the Austrians while his other forces sweep the Austrian rear.