Jonathan Milan of Bahrain Victorious won the rain-soaked stage 1 of the CRO Race from Osijek to Ludbreg in Croatia, the 21-year-old Italian using his powerful late acceleration to take a small bunch sprint by several bike lengths.
Fellow Italians Sacha Modolo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) and Mirco Maestri (EOLO-Kometa) claimed second and third respectively in the 223 kilometre stage.
Milan’s teammate Matej Mohorič made a solo attack coming off the second ascent of a short climb, the Ludbreski Vinogradi but was caught in the final metres.
Milan then swept past for the victory and now leads the race into stage 2, another hilly 163 kilometres run from Otocac to Zadar.
After almost five hours in the saddle, the first of the two ascents of the short, very uneven Ludbreski Vinogradi climb just before the finish in the town of Ludbreg proved fatal for the seven-rider break of the day.
As the rain teemed down, the strongest rider of the move, Kern Pharma’s Pablo Castrillo tried in vain to stay clear of a slowly disintegrating pack, but Briton Oscar Onley (DSM) snapped up the biggest haul of mountain points on offer at the summit.
The pack then regrouped to around 60 riders after the very technical, waterlogged descent, and coming through the finish with 17 kilometres to go, Ineos Grenadiers, led by 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, were visibly attempting to keep things under control for their sprinter Elia Viviani.
The second ascent of the Ludbreski Vinograda climb saw the race swing back in favour of Bahrain Victorious. No less than four domestiques, headed by 2021 Giro d’Italia runner-up Gianpaolo Caruso, strung things out notably on the upper part of the ascent.
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), riding his first race since his Tour de France victory in July was among those best able to handle the pace despite such difficult weather conditions, crossing the top of the climb in around tenth place of a long line of riders. He would finish the stage in the same time as MIlan and so remains an overall contender.
Lurking just behind his teammates on the climb, breakaway specialist like Mohorič was ideally placed use his renown bike skills to take advantage of the final descent.
When Mohorič forged away some four kilometres from the line, evoking memories of his spectacular descent in Milano-San Remo this spring, he quickly eked out a lead of several bike lengths of a slowly reforming bunch. However the Slovenian’s advantage never quite stretched far enough on the flatter segment that followed.
Sensing that Mohoric was fading fast, Milan surged forward with a long, sustained sprint for the line in the closing 100 metres.
He and the remnants of the bunch swept past his teammate, but such was the power of Milan’s late acceleration that he finished several bike lengths clear of his rival to claim first professional victory of his career and take the race lead.
Mohorič crossed the line in seventh.
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