The 21-year-old became the first Frenchman to score a victory at the race created in 2015.
Paul Magnier made it six wins in his last seven race days after another perfect sprint on the first day of the CRO Race. In doing so, he delivered Soudal Quick-Step’s first ever success in Croatia and took three of the race’s four jerseys: overall, points and best young rider.
The day got underway from Split, where Diocletian decided to spend his retirement after abdicating from the Roman emperorship in 305, and had the peloton tackle some undulating roads that took them to Sinj, a small town twinned with Sansepolcro, the Italian town lying in the Province of Arezzo, which hosted a stage won by Mario Cipollini at the 1999 Giro d'Italia. Sinj is a traditional finish at the CRO Race, having welcomed the bunch at the past two editions, and it once again witnessed a mass gallop, one for which the group had to work really hard in order to happen.
Seven men attacked from the start and ended up establishing a gap of almost five minutes, while Soudal Quick-Step immediately moved to the front of the field to organise the chase. Josef Cerny was again fantastic, just like at the Okolo Slovenska, taking some incredibly long pulls that reduced the deficit separating them from the leaders to just one minute with ten kilometers to go. Other teams also contributed to the escapees’ getting caught five kilometers from home, before the sprint trains started to form.
Magnier could count going under the flamme rouge on Dries Van Gestel, and the Belgian – who celebrated his 31st birthday on Tuesday – was again instrumental on the finishing straight, launching Paul to his 11th victory of the year.
“I’m glad I could another win – at the team’s first appearance here – as it’s been a great September and I’m happy to conclude it like this. I want to thank the boys, they did a fantastic job, just like in Slovakia. That was a beautiful lead-out and I’m delighted I could finish it off. I enjoy being here in Croatia, it’s a beautiful country, the legs are good, we are all motivated and we hope to fight for some more victories this week”, Paul explained at the finish.
Photo credit: ©Sport-IT
