Lonardi, another 2nd place in the sprint… but he’s the new leader of the Cro Race!

After yesterday’s second place behind Kristoff in Dalmatia he wore the blue jersey of the points classification. With today’s second place behind Molano on the island of Pag, Giovanni Lonardi doesn’t add a win to his palmarès but does take the red leader’s jersey of the Cro Race!

With the help of Javier Serrano (9th) and especially Mirco Maestri (8th) the sprinter from Polti Kometa (second in the team classification) contested a head-to-head sprint with the Colombian from UAE, at the end of a very short and windy stage where three different breakaways and a couple of late attacks had to be controlled.

Lonardi: “Wow! All day at fifty kilometers per hour, we did an amazing job and there’s nothing to regret. My rival was stronger, but I’m super motivated to try again. I’ll honor this jersey, but the priority is to get a victory.”

Sports Director Biagio Conte: “This week, between Malaysia and Croatia, we’ve been racking up numerous results that show our excellent preparation. The guys were fantastic in staying compact to protect Lona on what wasn’t an easy day, and in the finale Maestri was an outstanding lead-out man. Now we’re leading the GC, it wasn’t the main goal but now we’re enjoying it and tomorrow we’ll assess our strategies. Lastly I’m happy to inform you that, after yesterday’s crash, Fran Muñoz is doing well and continues the race without any problems!”