CRO Race: Juan Sebastian Molano wins stage 2 sprint
Colombian beats Lonardi, Welsford in Novalja

Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) took his first win of the season on stage 2 of the CRO Race, after threading the needle in the bunch sprint and overpowering Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) to the line in Novalja.
Molano was latched onto the back wheel of Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) before he launched his effort as Polti-Kometa and Bahrain-Victorious led things out, eventually kicking away easily from the Australian and past Lonardi who took second.
A frustrated Welsford was resigned to third in the sprint and had to stop his effort after trying to go up the inside of Lonardi on the barriers, with race leader Alexander Kristoff crossing the line close behind in fifth.
The six bonus seconds gained by Lonardi thanks to his second-place finish saw him jump past the Norwegian for the overall lead of the race heading into stage 3, a hillier 154km day from Otočac to Opatija.
More to come.
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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