Today’s opening stage at CroRace in a sunny Dalmatia was 162,5 kilometres betwenn Vodice Bay and the famous historical town of Sinj. In the National park of Krka the riders had a 2nd category climb, and later, a 1st category. As expected, the day ended in a bunch sprint where 20 year old Alberto Bruttomesso was strong and well positioned, finishing third behind Alexnder Kristoff (UXM) and Giovanni Lonardi (PTK). As the fastest young rider, Bruttomesso will wear the white jersey tomorrow.

After the stage, the Italian said, “We did the long climb pretty fast because the breakaway took a lot of minutes and we only closed the gap here on the last circuit. I was very nervous. Then in the final, I had a great team to help me and for the last 200m I was behind Kristoff. I tried to come out of his wheel but he was stronger. It’s a good result though, and hopefully we can go better and better in the coming days.”

Sports director Borut Božič was satisfied with the result of the first stage, commenting: “The boys raced the way we agreed they would. The plan was to be in the game all the time. So, Fred also got extra seconds for the GC, which we are happy about. Then we gave a chance to Alberto because he came to the last climb with the regular group in the front and we helped him in the sprint so he got a position to fight for the best. He was 3rd in the sprint. I think that is a great result for Alberto. Of course, we are taking it day by day. The first day is over and there are many days left to achieve. The goals are still to win one of the stages and to be at the top in general Classification. So at the moment we have thing under control.”