CRO Race: Colombian Dani Martínez ends two-year win drought with small group victory on stage 4

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2026 Paris-Nice runner-up outpowers four other riders on streets of Rijeka

Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) (Image credit: Getty Images)
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Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won an exciting fourth stage of the CRO Race on Friday, sprinting to victory from a group of five escapees which came together around 45km from the line.

Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) was second, while Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took third, having briefly been dropped on a short, late climb.

Finishing in the reduced chasing bunch, 15 seconds behind the leaders, Tobias Svarre (Uno-X Mobility) continues to lead the general classification by four seconds, with two stages remaining.

The leading group worked well to hold off the bunch, which trailed by only 30 seconds for much of the final 20km. However, their victory was complicated by the arrival of Sam Maisonobe, the Cofidis rider escaping the peloton inside the final 5km, catching the leaders and instantly opening the sprint.

However, ultimately the Frenchman did little more than lead out the sprint from the break, with Martínez winning by almost two bike lengths.

For stage 4 the CRO Race tackled another lumpy day, this time racing 160km from Lual to Rijeka on the coast.

The opening 60km of the stage were frantic, with attack after attack coming, but no breakaway able to form. Only inside the final 100km on the approach to the day’s first classified climb, were Louis Vervaerke (Soudal-QuickStep), Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek), Gorka Sorarrain (Caja-Rural-Seguros RGA), Julius Johansen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Samuel Boardman (Modern Adventure) and Mihael Štajnar (Pogi Team Gusto Ljubljana) able to build a gap.

By the time they reached the bottom of the main climb to Učka, they led by around two minutes, though Vervaeke had slipped backwards.

The climb was a beast, its 10.3km averaging at 7.7% gradient, with long sections well over 10%, and it duly took its toll. The breakaway split, leaving Kämna to ride on alone, Soraarrain trying to follow.

By the time Kämna crested the top, the peloton were only 50 seconds behind, but with over 50km remaining that lead was allowed to grow, and as it approached 1:50, three chasers went clear. Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Dani Martînez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Vervaerke quickly gained ground, and when Aimé De Gendt (Pinarello-Q36.5) joined them, there was panic in the Uno-X Mobility squad as Tobias Sverre’s GC lead came under threat.

Sensing a threat to Antonio Tiberi’s second place overall, Bahrain Victorious came to assist, and when they were joined by Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, the deficit finally stabilised at one minute, with Kämna still 35 seconds ahead.

With 15km left to race, Kämna was caught and dropped by the four-man chasing group, and with even more teams assisting the chase, the reduced peloton was little more than 30 seconds behind. But with much of the remaining distance on a technical descent, they maintained their advantage until Martínez attacked 6km from the line.

That move saw Novak briefly dropped, but he reappeared with 1,500m to go before they were joined by Maisonobe for the final few hundred metres and the last dash for the line unfolded, allowing Martínez to claim his first victory since two stages of the Volta ao Algarve back in February 2024.

Results

Owen Rogers
Owen Rogers
Staff Writer

A recent addition to the Cyclingnews staff, Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, working as a freelancer covering the sport for various magazines and websites for more than 10 years.

Initially concentrating mainly on the women's sport, he has covered hundreds of race days on the ground and interviewed some of the sport's biggest names.

Living near Cambridge in the UK, when he's not working you'll find him either riding his bike or playing drums.

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