October 5, 2019 – Serbian road cycling champion Dusan Rajovic, a member of the Slovenian Adria Mobil team, won the 155-kilometer fourth stage of the CRO Race, which traveled from Starigrad-Paklenica to Crikvenica on Friday. Kazakhstani cyclist Yevgeniy Gidich of the Astana team leads in the overall standings.
HRT reports that Rajovic, the winner of this year’s edition of the Croatia-Slovenia race, was convincingly faster in the final sprint in Crikvenica than second-placed Italian Paolo Simion (Bardiani CSF) and Australian Heinrich Haussler (Bahrain-Merida) in third. In addition to the top three, the only cyclists to receive the same time was the 2015 Tour of Croatia winner, Maciej Paterski (Wibatech Merx), who jumped to third place in the overall standings.
Croatian champion Josip Rumac (Androni Giocattoli) also achieved an excellent result in the fourth stage, finishing sixth just four seconds behind the winner.
After the four stages, Gidich leads six seconds ahead of the second-placed Australian Alexander Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott), and 12 seconds ahead of Paterski in third.
Austrian Markus Wildauer (Tirol KTM) keeps his green shirt for the best climber, while German Georg Zimmermann (CCC) wears white as the best young cyclist, and Australian Alexander Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott) wears blue.
The fourth stage drove along the Adriatic highway from Starigrad in Paklenica National Park to the center of Crikvenica.
The cyclists used the beautiful weather to their advantage, and during the first hour, the average speed was as high as 48.7 kilometers per hour. The leading cyclists managed to escape from the group after 40 kilometers, and they included Italians Mirko Maestri (Bardiani CSF) and Samuel Rivi (Tirol KTM), Canadian Alexander Cataford (Israel Cycling Academy), Austrian Matthias Krizek (Felbermayr Simplon) and German John Mandrysch (P&S Metalltechnik).
These five quickly created a three-and-a-half-minute advantage, but couldn’t move further, as Krizek and Mandrysch were only 2:24 minutes behind the leading Kazakhstani Yevgeny Gidich (Astana) in the overall order. Astana came to the forefront of the leading group and controlled the difference. Cataford was the best in the climb, while Mandrysch was first approaching Crikvenica.
Just before the start of the second ascent to Dramalj, Slovene Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida) stood out from the leading group. Tratnik managed to stay in the lead until a kilometer before the finish when the group finally caught up. A technically demanding finish followed in Crikvenica with three tight turns that caused the fall of a few drivers. Rajovic did best in the chaos.
RESULTS
1. Dusan Rajovic (ADR/SRB) 3:30:24
2. Paolo Simion (BRD/ITA)
3. Heinrich Haussler (TBM/AUS)
4. Maciej Paterski (WIB/POL) all with the same time
5. Alexander Edmonson ( MTS/AUS) +4 sec
6. Josip Rumac (ANS/HRV)
OVERALL
1. Yevgeniy Gidich (KAZ)
2. Alexander Edmondson (AUS) + 6
3. Maciej Paterski (POL) +12
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