Description
April 19, 2016
Tour of Croatia 2016 – Osijek – Varaždin – 235,1 km
The Tour of Croatia is a men’s cycling stage race that will take place in Croatia.
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April 19, 2016
Tour of Croatia 2016 – Osijek – Varaždin – 235,1 km
The Tour of Croatia is a men’s cycling stage race that will take place in Croatia. It is part of the UCI Europe Tour and is rated by the UCI as a 2.1 event, the third tier of professional stage races. The race will take place in April in the build-up to the Giro d’Italia. The event is organised by Vladimir Miholjevic, a former professional cyclist.
Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) won his first race of the 2016 season on Tuesday, outsprinting Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) on the opening stage of the Tour of Croatia.
Mark Renshaw led out the sprint for Cavendish, who was positioned on Nizzolo’s wheel, but the Manxman was never able to come round the Italian on the twisty, narrow road in the final couple of hundred metres. The front two were clear by a distance, while Timothy Dupont (Verandas Williams) took third place.
The messy sprint came at the end of a technical finishing in circuit in Varaždin and it was somewhat anticlimactic after the riders had spent no fewer than 230 flat kilometres in the saddle since starting out from Osijek, north of Zagreb.
A breakaway formed early on, with Alexey Kurbatov (Gazprom-RusVelo), Matej Drinovic (Adria Mobil), and the Cycling Academy dup of Guillaume Boivin and Guy Sagiv, and the peloton was more than happy to sit back and let them gain a lead of over 10 minutes.
With 40 kilometres remaining, the riders approached a small rise in the road – a mere pimple on the parcours but a categorised climb no less – and Boivin skipped away from his companions to take the KOM point. That was it for the other three, while Boivin forged on alone and held his lead all the way to inside 5km, though his deteriorating form and the pace in the peloton, driven by Dimension Data and Trek-Segafredo, meant the catch was never in question.
With a good position near the front and with teammates in support, Cavendish was the favourite, but he seemed to miscalculate things as he left himself with no chance to really kick and come around Nizzolo.
For the Italian himself, it’s an all-important victory ahead of the Giro d’Italia, where last year he won the points jersey, but without ever managing to win a stage.
Results :
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
3 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Veranda’s Willems
 won his first race of the 2016 season on Tuesday, outsprinting Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) on the opening stage of the Tour of Croatia.
Mark Renshaw led out the sprint for Cavendish, who was positioned on Nizzolo’s wheel, but the Manxman was never able to come round the Italian on the twisty, narrow road in the final couple of hundred metres. The front two were clear by a distance, while Timothy Dupont (Verandas Williams) took third place.
<p class="thirdpara">The messy sprint came at the end of a technical finishing in circuit in Varaždin and it was somewhat anticlimactic after the riders had spent no fewer than 230 flat kilometres in the saddle since starting out from Osijek, north of Zagreb.</p>
A breakaway formed early on, with Alexey Kurbatov (Gazprom-RusVelo), Matej Drinovic (Adria Mobil), and the Cycling Academy dup of Guillaume Boivin and Guy Sagiv, and the peloton was more than happy to sit back and let them gain a lead of over 10 minutes.
With 40 kilometres remaining, the riders approached a small rise in the road – a mere pimple on the parcours but a categorised climb no less – and Boivin skipped away from his companions to take the KOM point. That was it for the other three, while Boivin forged on alone and held his lead all the way to inside 5km, though his deteriorating form and the pace in the peloton, driven by Dimension Data and Trek-Segafredo, meant the catch was never in question.
With a good position near the front and with teammates in support, Cavendish was the favourite, but he seemed to miscalculate things as he left himself with no chance to really kick and come around Nizzolo.
For the Italian himself, it’s an all-important victory ahead of the Giro d’Italia, where last year he won the points jersey, but without ever managing to win a stage.
<strong style="line-height: 1.5;">Results :</strong>
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
3 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Veranda's Willems)
