Sixth and final stage of the Tour of Croatia, with a great race made by the team. At the begin Yuma Koishi in the breakaway of the day. NIPPO Vini Fantini that leads the group in the chasing to launch a double action. At first with Eduard Grosu in the penultimate lap, then in the very final with Marco Canola that arrived 5th on the finish line, behind the winner of the day, Sacha Modolo. A Tour of Croatia finished today with 2 podium, 10 top tens and 2 breakaways made by the team.
Zagabria – 6th stage, Tour of Croatia.
What a final for the Tour of Croatia, with the #OrangeBlue again among most active riders, as in all the stages of this Tour. 5th place today for Marco Canola, in the final “sprint” on the final wall of Zagabria (500 meters with a 8% climb). Few km before the strong action of Eduard Grosu that goes on the 5 riders remained from the breakaway, overtaking them. Caught few bends before the final wall by the UAE Abu Dhabi team, it’s time for the final sprint, won by Sacha Modolo with Marco Canola coming final 5th, just behind Vincenzo Nibali that is again leader of the tour, winning today the general ranking.
THE RACE.
Last stage developed with an escape of 15 riders, among them Yuma Koishi, the Japanese rider of the team. 30km from the finish line the NIPPO Vini Fantini team began to push in front of the bunch, with Kazushige Kuboki, Alan Marangoni and with the sprinter Nicolas Marini today working for his teammates. In the meantime the escape, passed from 2 minutes to only 45 seconds thanks also to the work of the NIPPO Vini Fantini team, explode with only 5 riders remaining in the gruop.
In the final circuit of Zagabria, as decided in the morning strategy, the first action is of Eduard Grosu that tried his escape at the penultimate lap, overtaking the escapers. Behind him the UAE team worked for Sacha Modolo, then winner of the day. Final sprint made by the #OrangeBlue Marco Canola that was able to arrive in the 5th place of the day, taking the 10th top10 of the NIPPO Vini Fantini team in this Tour.
THE DECLARATIONS.
Stefano Giuliani, the #OrangeBlue Sports Directors is the strategic man of the race, not happy for the final result, but very happy for the attitude and the strategy done by the team perfectly: “Today strategy was to put someone inside the breakaway of the day, that was very big, in order to not remain the unique team with interest in working in the group. Then Kuboki, Marangoni and especially Marini, that understand that today his role was to help the team not doing the sprint, did a great job in front of the group. Our plan was to anticipate at first with Grosu, while our final man was Canola. Unfortunately Grosu didn’t find collaboration from the others riders in the breakaway and maybe made wrong to not wait also for them. Then Sacha Modolo has been better than us beating Marco Canola. But from this Tour we exit stronger. If we want, we can have many satisfactions from this season.”
THE FINAL BALANCE.
The final balance of the #OrangeBlue team, also if the victory is missing, is very positive, both in the numbers and in the attitude. A Tour of Croatia raced always leading the stages, as a team, with 2 podiums, 10 top ten, 2 breakaways, one of them went very close to the victory with Alan Marangoni, that deserved his first victory of the career. Attitude that comes from the work made in the bunch with #OrangeBlue colors often in the top part of the bunch. Team work and determination that are the perfect starting point for the next races.
STAGE RANKING:
1 – MODOLO Sacha – UAE Team Emirates
2 – POLANC Jan – UAE Team Emirates
3 – VAN POPPEL Boy – Trek – Segafredo
4 – NIBALI Vincenzo Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team
5 – CANOLA Marco Nippo – Vini Fantini
6 – GROSSCHARTNER Felix – CCC Sprandi Polkowice
7 – BOEM Nicola – Bardiani – CSF
8 – AUER Daniel Team Felbermayr – Simplon Wels
9 – KNOX JamesTeam Wiggins
10 – HIRT Jan CCC Sprandi Polkowice