CRO Race: Elia Viviani wins opening stage sprint

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Lund Andresen second and Kristoff third as GC favourite Mohoric part of late crash

CRO Race 2023: Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) wins stage 1 and takes first lead in six-day Croatian stage race
CRO Race 2023: Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) wins stage 1 and takes first lead in six-day Croatian stage race (Image credit: Mario Stiehl /CRO Race 2023)
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Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) claimed his first win of the season, taking out the opening stage of the CRO Race ahead of Tobias Lund Andresen (Team dsm-firmenich) with Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) in third.

The win comes a year after Viviani's last sprint win in the same race and moves him into the first leader's jersey.

"I have achieved very good results throughout the season, so this stage win is a big relief. The team prepared the perfect lead out for me in the final kilometres. I came here to win as many stages as possible, but Magnus Sheffield will be fighting for the overall general classification win for the team," said Viviani, who came to Croatia straight from the Netherlands where he took part in the European Road Championships. 

With only three categorised climbs in the 182km stage from Primosten to Sinj, it was a day for the sprinters, but that didn't stop the breakaway hunting for TV time.

Mateusz Grabis (Voster ATS), Michal Schuran (ATT Investments), Raul Garcia Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma), Simone Bevilacqua (Eolo-Kometa) and Edward Ravasi (Hrinkow Advarics) made up the day's breakaway until Grabis lost contact, leaving four riders to try to hold off the peloton.

A crash disrupted the run-in with Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) the most notable faller forced to chase back as he fell outside the 3km to go mark.

Ineos Grenadiers took control of the lead out for Viviani and he just held off a challenge from Lund Andresen. Mohorič crossed the finish line 50 seconds down on the main group.

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Laura Weislo
Laura Weislo
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Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.

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