Bahrain Victorious are in Croatia for the ninth edition of the CRO Race which this year takes place between the 1st and 6th of October. The six stages will traverse both continental and coastal Croatia, covering nearly a thousand kilometres, and taking in much of the country’s picturesque landscape. For the first time, the peloton will start its journey from Vodice, while the finish, as always, will be in Zagreb.

Day one ends in Sinj (162,5 km), before the second stage connecting Biograd na Moru with Novalja (119 km). After that it’s 133.5km from Otočac to Opatija, while the fourth and ‘Queen’ stage, between Krk and Labin (161 km) features the ‘Hors Category’ climb of Poklon 55km from the line. Ozalj and Karlovac are the host towns for S5 (167 km), and the final day starts in Sveta Nedelja on the way to the capital.

Cycling fans can expect dynamic stages with technically demanding sections providing opportunities for tense sprints in the battle for bonus seconds.

Leader for Bahrain will be Edoardo Zambanini. Sprinters are Fred Wright and Alberto Bruttomesso. The riders whose role is to support and protect Zambanini are Kamil Gradek, Nicolò Buratti, Robert Stannard and finally Fran Miholjević, who is riding on home roads.

Sport director Borut Božič has high hopes for the week: “We are looking forward to CRO race. Our goal is to perform every day, with different riders taking the fore, without doing anything to endanger our leader who is competing on GC. Our goal is a podium in Zagreb or even – as we did in 2022 – win the race.”