Mark Cavendish took the overall lead in the Tour of Croatia by sprinting to a comfortable stage two victory in Split.
Another great race in stage two of Tour of Croatia on April 20, 2016. The second stage of the competition started in Plitvice Lakes, at the beautiful site of the National Park. It was a pleasant start for the drivers, as the temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius, and there was a gentle breeze from the north. As they were approaching the sea the sea, temperatures were getting higher, and the finish in Split ended with temperatures becoming an issue for the racers.
It was yet another spectacular race, through beautiful sites of Inland Croatia, and finishing with a street race through Split. The winner of stage two, Mark Cavendish, was given the perfect lead-out by his Dimension Data team and capitalised by beating Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) in second place, an exact reversal of the stage one result. Both Cavendish and Nizzolo now have the same time in the general classification, but Cavendish will wear the race leader's red jersey in Thursday's third stage.
Cavendish's main lead-out rider Mark Renshaw finished third on the day and is now third overall, 10 seconds back. The win was Cavendish's third of the season, two of which have come in sprints. The other was his overall victory in the Tour of Qatar.
Here is what he told us after the today's win: „It was not so much of a difficult stage, but it was a long one, so it was all about tactics. The finish in Split is a technically challenging one; there were a lot of crashes last year, so we had to prepare for it.“
The finish in Split is one of most the difficult ones ever, since, after getting out of the Marjan forest, which is shady and pleasant for cycling, there is a hard climb on the southern side of Split peninsula. After that, there is a light downhill stretch to Riva, with two roundabouts and two double corners just before the finish line.
Mark was glad to hear from us that Makarska is only one hour drive from Split, as he feels it is crucial to get some rest before tomorrow's 190,8 km stage from Makarska to Šibenik. When asked how he feels about those last few corners in Split, he smiled and told us; „I did not appreciate it at all...“
Here are the results of stage two, and the overall standings:
Stage two result
1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data, 5:32:56
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, same time
3 Mark Renshaw (GB) Dimension Data, st
4 Michal Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff, st
5 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, st
General classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data, 11:00:27
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, same time
3 Mark Renshaw (GB) Dimension Data, +10sec
4 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Verandas Willems, +12
5 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, +13
