Second Stage of CRO Race was Held in Zadar

Milan took his second stage victory after he also celebrated on Tuesday in Ludbreg, with a minimal advantage ahead of the second placed rider Frenchman Pierre Barbier (B&B Hotels-KTM), while the Italian Elia Viviani (INEOS Grenadiers) crossed the finish line in third place.

The young, 21-year-old Italian broke out to the top of the group about 250 meters before the finish line, fought side by side with Viviani for a long time, and in the final meters Barbier arrived from behind. The Frenchman was sure that he crossed the finish line first, but after reviewing the photo-finish, it was announced that the winner was Milan after all, with only 0.4 milliseconds advantage.

With this victory, Milan further increased his advantage in the overall standings, now he has a 14-second advantage over second-placed Barbier and third-placed compatriot Sacha Modolo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè).

"The finish in Zadar was technically very demanding and that's why I started to sprint a good 500 meters before the finish line. It was precisely for this reason that it was very close in the finish. I will remember CRO Race forever because I achieved my first two victories in career here", said the current Olympic champion in the team pursuit.

In addition to maintaining the lead in the overall order, Milan remained the leader in the order of points (blue jersey) and in the order for the best young driver (white jersey).

At the beginning of the second stage, the Croatian representatives were also active, so among the seven breakaways there were also Viktor Potočki (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) and Antonio Barać (Meridiana-Kamen). Along with them, there were Slovenians Nik Čemažar (Adria Mobil) and Žiga Horvat (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang), Pole Tobiasz Pawlak (HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski), German Lukas Meiler (Team Vorarlberg) and Spaniard Jaime Fernandez (Equipo Kern Pharma).

At the intermediate sprint in Perušić, Pawlak was the first ahead of Fernandez and Potočki, and shortly afterwards Fernandez gave up the breakaway, leaving six riders on their own. The six of them managed to achieve over three minutes of the advantage before the only ascent of the day to Prezid.

As it was the second category climb, the reward for the first rider who conquered that pass was the green jersey for the best climber for the next stage and the honour to be on the podium presentation after the stage. Therefore, it is not surprising that the breakaways sprinted for first place, and Pawlak overtook Potočki and Horvat in the last meters.

Just before the second intermediate sprint in Poličnik, Barać also dropped out of the leading group, and Meiler, Pawlak and Potočki won a bonus points.

The other breakaways were caught eight kilometres before the finish, and during the first crossing of the finish line, Italian Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo) was the first ahead of his compatriot Mirco Maestri (Eolo-Kometa) and Frenchman Victor Koretzky (B&B Hotels-KTM).

The third stage of the race starts on Wednesday, September 29 at 13:00 PM from Sinj, its finish line is in Primošten, and the arrival of cyclists is expected between 4:45 PM and 5:06 PM.

More information: crorace.com