Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) sealed overall victory at the CRO Race despite crashing heavily in the final metres of stage 6 in Zagreb, where Campbell Stewart (Jayco-Alula) won the bunch sprint ahead of Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X).
Stewart’s win ultimately helped to ensure Aular’s overall victory despite his crash, as Kristoff was denied the bonus seconds he needed to overhaul the Venezuelan champion to claim the red jersey.
Aular, an impressive winner in the bunch finale on stage 5, began the final day with a lead of 9 seconds on the Ineos duo of Ethan Hayter and Magnus Sheffield, and a buffer of 12 seconds over Kristoff.
That lead contracted at the first intermediate sprint, where Kristoff picked up three bonus seconds and Hayter notched up two, setting up a tense finale. The break of the day would hoover up the bonus seconds at second intermediate sprint, but when they were brought back in the closing kilometres, both the stage win and the overall title were up for grabs.
Ineos and Uno-X came to the fore in the final kilometre to tee up the bunch sprint, though Aular was also well positioned as he reached the finishing straight. The Venezuelan’s prospects of stage victory were dashed, however, when he crashed after seeming to clip the foot of the barriers with 200 metres or so remaining, just as he had come off Kristoff’s wheel and opened his sprint.
When Kristoff thundered to the front, he looked set to claim the spoils, but the Norwegian was overhauled within sight of the line by the rapidly-finishing Stewart, who claimed the first victory of his professional career in emphatic fashion.
Gal Glivar (Adria Mobil) took third ahead of Nicoló Parisini (Q36.5), with Tobias Lund (DSM) coming home in fifth place.
Aular was briefly checked upon by medics after rising to his feet, and the red jersey subsequently walked across the finish line to complete the CRO Tour and secure final overall victory, three seconds ahead of Kristoff and seven ahead of Hayter.
After Kristoff had won the day’s early intermediate sprint, the stage was marked by a five-man break comprising Martin Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Mario Gamper (Santic-Wibatec), Travis Stedman (Q36.5), Mateusz Kostański (Voster ATS) and Aljaž Turk (Adria Mobil).
They built a maximum lead of two minutes, but the determination of several sprint teams, including Uno-X and DSM, meant that their hopes of holding on for stage victory always seemed distanced.
Even so, the escapees – minus Turk – managed to hang tough onto the short finishing circuit around Zagreb and they swept up the bonus seconds on offer with 10km to go. They still had 14 seconds in hand on the peloton when they took the bells with 5km remaining, but the move splintered as Stedman piled on the pressure and they were caught shortly afterwards.
DSM controlled affairs into the final kilometre ahead of the inevitable bunch sprint, where Aular was determined to mark Kristoff’s rear wheel. And, despite a late scare, he would do enough to claim overall victory.
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