Modolo wins opening stage of Tour of Croatia

Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) collected his first victory of the season on Tuesday at the opening stage of the Tour of Croatia, outsprinting a Nippo-Vini Fantini duo and Italian champion Giacomo Nizzolo after a long day in the saddle.

"Team was perfect in leading me to the front positions in the approach of the last kilometer and in avoiding problems in the last two bends," Modolo said.  

The 227km route from Osijek to Koprivnica up the northeast coast of the country was largely flat, save for a late third-category punch, and Modolo took the smartest line and showed the strongest legs in the sprint after Trek-Segafredo had taken the reins for Nizzolo.

Ferrari began his role as pilot-fish in the final 1000 meters and he was great as usual; he knows which is the best speed and when it's time to launch the sprint, where timing is very important in sprints on long straight, as today," Modolo said. "I was the first to start the sprint, I felt my legs were very good and I avoided to be overtaken by the opponents. This victory is very good in the approach of the Giro d'Italia."

Nippo’s Eduard Grosu and Nicolas Marini also sprang past Nizzolo to take second and third respectively, though both bashed their handlebars after crossing the line, clearly feeling this was a missed opportunity.

Nizzolo was making his race debut of 2017 after battling tendinitis in his knee since the start of the year, and he seemed to lack the kind of kick that won him the opening stage here 12 months ago. Two teammates peeled off the front of the pack to launch him but by the time the second one did so Modolo was already past him on the inside.

He was unable to make up any ground on the three riders in front of him and was eventually pushed down to fifth on the line by Caja Rural’s Dylan Page.

Modolo now leads the general classification.

The flat opening 200km of this opening stage were never likely to be eventful, and a five-man breakaway was allowed to build a lead of over 10 minutes. In there were: Jannik Steimle (Felbermayr-Simplon Wels), Akdilek (Torku-Sekerspor), Michael O’Loughlin (Wiggins), Nikolay Trusov (Gazprom) and Gregor Gazvoda (Adria Mobil).

The riders crossed the finish line for the first time with 44km to go, with the gap just below the two-minute mark, and they headed further north on a somewhat gratuitous loop before coming back down for the sprint finish. At the furthermost point of the loop in Ludberg was the third-category ascent – not serious enough to cause any splits in the bunch but enough to spark some action in the break.

O’Loughlin and Trusov emerged as the strongest two and slugged it out towards the top, with the Russian skipping away under the KOM banner to earn the first mountains jersey of the race. As the other members of the break were caught, Nippo’s Marco Canola surged clear of the peloton on the climb and joined up with O’Loughlin and Trusov, though the trio was reeled in with 14 kilometres to go.

The re-grouping, however, inspired further attacks, and the race would only properly come back together with nine kilometres remaining.

It was then time for the build-up to the sprint, and Trek looked to be in complete control, though Nizzolo understandably lacked the legs to finish it off, allowing Modolo to come through for a confidence-boosting first win of the campaign ahead of the Giro d’Italia.

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