CRO Race: Paul Magnier finally gets his victory on stage 5 with mighty sprint

After an unsuccessful four days of action at the CRO Race, Paul Magnier finally got the victory he was searching for on stage 5, benefiting from a perfect Soudal-QuickStep lead-out.

With the category 2 Plesivica climb coming in the last 25km of the route, it was far from a simple job for the Belgian team to deliver Magnier to the win, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG pacing hard and several attacks being launched before the summit.

But on the downhill run for home in Sveta Nedelja and after some elite work from Soudal-QuickStep, racing was kept all together before the final 4km, with many of the fast men returning.

With Magnier sat in fourth wheel, they wound things up for the sprint, with Dries Van Gestel providing the final push. Tim Torn Teutenberg tried to jump the Frenchman with an early surge, but once Magnier opened up, he moved away from all his rivals, celebrating with a roar. It brought his 11th win of the season as 35th as a professional, with Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finishing second and Teutenberg third.

"I’m very happy to be on the top spot of the podium again! The team did an amazing job today! Their lead-out was spectacular, and all I had to do was open my sprint at the right moment and keep it all the way to the line," said Magnier.

"I knew the parcours from last year and I was aware it would be hard, because some riders were keen on attacking on the climb, but we controlled and brought back all those moves, managing to keep things together for the finale. In the sprint, I started early, but I was confident I could pull it off. Sunday is another opportunity and we are motivated to fight again for the victory."

After the peloton came to the line as a bunch, there were no major changes in the general classification, with stage 3 winner Tobias Svarre (Uno-X Mobility) maintaining his slim lead of four seconds overall on Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), and eight seconds on Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

The race will conclude on Sunday in Croatia's capital city, Zagreb, with another expected sprint stage, where bonus seconds could prove essential in the GC race.

Results

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