Axel Laurance (B&B Hotels-KTM) won the hectic sprint in the rain on stage 4 of the CRO Race, holding off the Bahrain Victorious duo of race leader Jonathan Milan and Matej Mohorič at the line.
At the 500-metre mark, Milan slipped on the wet course in an attempt to avoid a crash with Sacha Modolo (Bardiani CSF Faizanè) and the Italian lost the wheel of his lead-out man Mohorič. While Milan clawed his way back through two more tight turns, the 21-year-old Laurance celebrated his first victory of the year.
Bonus seconds at the finish in Crikvenica gave Milan a little padding to continue for a fourth day in the GC lead, extending his advantage over Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) to 10 seconds. Mohorič was third overall on same time with Oscar Onley (Team DSM), 14 seconds back. Laurance moved to fifth on GC.
The damp roads reduced urgency in the peloton in closing kilometres in Crikvenica, as the rain created treachery with lots of crosswalk paint on the surface near the finish, distinguished by the three 90-degree turns in the closing 500 metres. It was that first sharp corner in the trio that proved decisive for Milan’s attempt to win a third stage in four days.
Modolo slipped out as he rounded the tight turn, and Milan had to slow down to avoid tumbling himself. Modolo managed to finish 10th, but the disruption at the front gave Laurance extra space to go for the win.
“It was really tricky, and really, really slippery in the rain. I tried to stay all the time in a good position on the final lap. In the corner, one guy just [fell]. I was in a good placement and I could come back to Mohoric. When I saw Mohoric just in front of me, I said, ‘OK, I’m faster and it’s my time’, so I give all for the finish line. I get my first win, so it’s incredible,” Laurance said.
A hilly day from Biograd na Moru, the 219km course rolled north along the Adriatic Sea. Most of the climbing hit on the second half of the route, starting with the category 3 Caci climb (3.4km at 5.1% average), the majority of the six points on offer going to former KOM leader Tobiasz Pawlak (HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski).
Hitting the repeat button from the past three stages, Friday's stage saw a breakaway of six riders go clear and move to 3 minutes ahead of the peloton after the first 70 kilometres. Familiar faces in another break were Pawlak and Rainer Kepplinger (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang), this time joined by Engenio Sánchez (Equipo Kern Pharma), Anže Skok (Ljubljana Gusto Santic), Kristjan Hočevar (Adria Mobile) and Linus Stari (Team Vorarlberg).
The rain began to fall with 55km to go, as the front six held an advantage of 2:45 as they closed on an intermediate sprint in Senj. From there, the gap began to taper down to 1:15 at 24km to go, the dampness making the road surface slippery. Bahrain Victorious amassed at the front of the peloton, with Jonathan Castroviego of Ineos Grenadiers taking a long turn at the front on the flat section of road headed to a 10km finishing circuit and the final cat 3 climb at Dramalj.
With 4km to the start of the circuit, the gap was down to 26 seconds, the peloton screaming past the beach at Selce to make the catch 2km later.
The short 1km Dramalj climb was billed as a fierce obstacle on the circuit, capable of fracturing the peloton with its ramps of 20%. The climb opened the final 7.1km of the race with a 6% gradient, Team DSM placing two riders at the front. But Milan and Vingegaard rode near the front of a sizable group with the ascent proving no disruption in the proceedings.
The peloton held a measured pace across the wet, technical corners of the final kilometres. While Bahrain managed to survive and maintain the overall race lead, B&B Hotels' young Frenchman stole the show at the finish.
Laurance moved up to second place in the points classification, but Milan holds a substantial 36-point lead. Milan also continues as the best young rider. Alexis Guerin (Team Vorarlberg) took over the KOM lead from Oscar Onley (Team DSM), tied with Pawlak at 9 points. The competition for the mountains classification heats up over the weekend with two big climbing stages to conclude the CRO Race.
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