Tour of Croatia 2017 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

April 21, 2017
Tour of Croatia 2017 – Stage 4 – Crikvenica – Umag – 171 km

The Tour of Croatia is a men’s cycling stage race that takes place in Croatia. It is part of the UCI Europe Tour and is rated by the UCI as a 2.1 event, the third tier of professional stage races. The race takes place in April in the build-up to the Giro d’Italia. The event is organised by Vladimir Miholjević, a former professional cyclist.

Nicola Ruffoni took his second stage win in as many days Friday at the Tour of Croatia.

The Bardiani CSF rider sprinted to victory in Umag ahead of Riccardo Minali (Astana) and Ivan Savitskiy (Gazprom-Rusvelo), denying a stubborn break in the final moments of the day. Early escapee Alan Marangoni (Nippo-Vini Fantini) held out until the last 100 metres, but was caught and passed by the fast finishers just before the line.

In the battle for the overall title, Caja Rural’s Jaime Roson found himself on the wrong side of a small split during the sprint, allowing Astana’s Vinceno Nibali to leapfrog him on GC and take over control of the leader’s jersey. Coming into the stage five seconds down, the Italian now leads the Spaniard by two seconds.

Marangoni, Johannes Schinnagel (Team Felbermayr – Simplon Wels), Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy) and Antonio Di Sante (GM Europa Ovini) jumped clear of the peloton around 20 kilometres after the pack set out from Crikvenica for the 171km stage 4. The escapees were given a bit of space, with a gap growing out to around four minutes. With a flat finish on tap, however, several teams were interested in keeping the move under control to set up a potential sprint finish.

With Roson in the leader’s jersey, Caja Rural did much of the early pace-setting to keep the gap to the break steady at or around four minutes for an hour or so.

With around 40 kilometres to go, the peloton began to eat into the breakers’ advantage, with Trek-Segafredo, Bahrain-Merida, Bardiani CSF and Astana pitching in at the front. The four riders up the road worked well together, but the gap was down to two minutes with 25 kilometres left to race.

The breakers took a little over a minute into the final 15 kilometres, but then the chase stalled ever so slightly, giving the quartet off the front a bit of hope at staying clear all the way to the line. With the gap at 25 seconds at five kilometres to go, it was still anyone’s game.

The difference was just 10 seconds with two kilometres to go, which spurred Marangoni to push clear from the break and attempt a solo victory. The other three were caught, but Marangoni passed under the flamme rouge banner still clinging to a small gap.

A charging peloton would not be denied, however. Winding up to full speed, the sprinters rapidly closed down Marangoni’s small advantage on the finishing straight. Ruffoni led the charge as the quick men swallowed up Marangoni in the final moments of the stage, and the Bardiani rider held on ahead of the other sprinters to cross the line first for the second day in a row.

Results

Results :
1 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF 4:10:15
2 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
3 Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
4 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
5 Dusan Rajovic (Srb) Adria Mobil
6 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
7 Daniel Auer (Aut) Team Felbermayr – Simplon Wels
8 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
9 Eduard Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini
10 Gasper Katrasnik (Slo) Adria Mobil

General classification after stage 4 :
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 18:13:38
2 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:02
3 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:11
4 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:15
5 Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:17
6 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Bicicletas Strongman 0:00:27
7 Jan Polanc (Slo) Team UAE Emirates 0:00:29
8 James Knox (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:00:34
9 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
10 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice