CRO Race 2022 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

September 29, 2022

CRO Race 2022 – Stage 2 – Otočac – Zadar : 163 km

The Tour of Croatia may be one of the youngest stage-races on the pro cycling calendar, with its first professional edition taking place back in 2015, but it has wasted no time in establishing itself as one of the best races for first-year pros to really shine against WorldTour opposition. For the past few editions the Tour of Croatia has started in the city of Osijek and finished in the capital, Zagreb. The route has often worked its way around the perimeter of the country, tackling a series of rolling stages along the coast before a leg-breaking stage through the Učka mountain range on the penultimate day of the race.

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) won for a second straight day at the CRO Race with a photo finish victory over Pierre Barbier (B&B Hotels – KTM).

The Italian extended his overall lead after the frantic downhill finish in Zadar on stage 2. Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) took third place.

“I think it’s incredible. Also, today, the guys did an amazing job. We controlled from kilometre zero to the end. Two victories in two days is something I couldn’t think, no?. It’s super exciting,” said Milan, an Olympic track champion with only the second road win of his career in the span of two days.

“[The finish] was pretty difficult. The last kilometre on the last lap, one of the last corners, I think was crucial to win the race.”

After catching five riders who survived from the day’s breakaway with 9km remaining in the 163km stage, the riders were on a technical finish of two circuits next to the Adriatic Sea with more than a dozen corners on each pass. With 7.5km to go Milan hit the circuits at the front of the race, led by one teammate.

Bahrain Victorious stayed near the front and with 1.3km to go as Omar Fraile and Michael Kwiatkowski moved near the front for Ineos Grenadiers and efforts to support Viviani. Once the final 90-degree corner was made, Milan launched his attack early. On the downhill run Barbier drove the chase and raised his arms at the line as he thought he had won the stage. A closer look at the replay proved that Milan had won his second stage in two days.

The 163km stage began from Otočac and headed south to Zadar, the terrain beckoning a sprint finish. Across the category 2 Kategorija climb with 63km to go, Tobiasz Pawlak (HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski) took six points to move into the KOM lead as part of the breakaway of six riders. He was joined by Tobiasz Pawlak (HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski), Lukas Meiler (Team Vorarlberg), Žiga Horvat (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang), Nik Čemažar (Adria Mobil) Antonio Barač (Meridiana Kamen Team) and Victor Potočli (Ljubljana Gusto Santic).

With 50km to go the break had a gap just under 1:30, Bahrain Victorious doing the majority of the work at the front for race leader Milan and Ineos Grenadiers next in line. The breakaway gained 20 more seconds over the next 20km.

\With 23.5km to go, the breakaway lost Barač and lost a chunk of time, the gap dipping under one minute. The peloton continued to drive a pace along the long straightaway motivated to make the catch to the start the closing circuits. For the escapees, it seemed to just leave the combativity award as the only prize remaining with under 10km to go.

Results :