October 3, 2019 - Gol.hr reports that Romanian cyclist Eduard-Michael Grosu, a member of the French Delko Marseille team, won the second stage of the CRO Race, which ran on Wednesday on the 183 km route from Slunj to Zadar. Grosu also took the overall lead in the stage.
Grosu also celebrated in Zadar last year. With a good knowledge of the final kilometers, he attacked a kilometer ahead of the finish line, quickly acquiring the 20-meter advantage he managed to keep to the finish. The second place went to Australian Alexander Edmondson from the Mitchelton-Scott team and third to the first stage winner Slovenian Marko Kump from Adria Mobil.
In the third stage, the blue t-shirt intended for the best sprinter will be worn by Kump, the green by Austrian Markus Wildauer (Tyrol KTM), and white by Kazakhstani Vadim Pronski (Astana).
The second stage of this year's CRO Race took cyclists through two national parks, Plitvice Lakes and Northern Velebit.
The town of Slunj justified its status as an extremely hospitable host at the start of the second stage. The numerous locals warmly greeted the cyclists in the center of the town before the start and wished them a happy journey. The beginning of the race was signaled by the mayor of Slunj, Jure Katić, and very soon after, five cyclists stood out from the leading group - Austrians Markus Wildauer (Tyrol KTM), Daniel Lehner (Felbermayr Simplon), Dominic Hrinkow (Hrinkow Advarics), Australian Benjamin Hill (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) and Dutchman Jens van den Dool (Metec-TKH).
The five quickly built up an advantage of over five and a half minutes and scored points after passing the first goal entering Plitvice Lakes National Park, and at Jezerce five kilometers later.
Unfortunately, adverse weather conditions followed the cyclists as they continued. After passing through the refreshment area in the middle of the stage, heavy rain began to fall, and the temperature dropped significantly. With the fall in temperature, the leaders of the group started to weaken. At the beginning of the second ascent of the day in the Velebit Nature Park, the peloton was just over two minutes ahead, led by the Slovenian team Adria Mobil. Delko Marseille and Vital Concept took the lead in the leading group, reducing the edge of the top five to just 47 seconds.
Fortunately, during the descent from Velebit to Maslenica, the weather subsided and the rain stopped.
Soon afterward, seven cyclists stood out from the leading group - Austrians Florian Kierner and Stephan Rabitsch (Felbermayr Simplon), Dutchmen Dylan Bouwans and Stef Krul (Metec-TKH), Frenchman Matthieu Jeannes (Illuminate), Polak Maciej Paterski (Wibatech Merx) and German Jonathan Dinkler (P&S Metalltechnik).
At no point was their advantage greater than a minute, so Kierner, Rabitsch and Dinkler soon gave up the run, while Bouwmans, Krul, Jeannes and Paterski persisted for the last six kilometers before the finish. The leading four were ahead by about 10 seconds. Eduard-Michael Grosu ultimately came out on top.
Results
1. Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rum/DMP) 4:24:39
2. Alexander Edmondson (Aus/MTS) +3
3. Marko Kump (Slo/ ADR)
4. Mattia Frapporti (Ita/ANS)
5. Matej Mohorič (Slo/TBM)
6. John Mandrysch (Njem/PUS)
7. Paolo Simion (Ita/BRD)
8. Timon Loderer (Njem/HAC)
9. Heinrich Haussler (Aus/TBM)
10. Bert de Backer (Bel/VCB)
Overall Results
1. Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rum/DMP) 8:51:52
2. Marko Kump (Slo/ ADR) +5
3. Alexander Edmondson (Aus/MTS) +13
4. Jevghenij Gidič (Kaz/AST) +13
5. Matej Mohorič (Slo/TBM) +14
6. Alexis Guerin (Fra/DMP) +17
7. Adam Yates (VB/MTS) +18
8. Arvid de Kleijn (Niz/MET) +19...
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