On a rainy day, American Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) came out victorious in the third stage of the CRO Race 2024, which was a short 89.5 kilometers between Novi Vinodolski and Opatija, given the adverse weather conditions.
The northern rider, who kept the UAE’s winning streak, was the strongest in the final steep slopes that defined the fraction. Second came his teammate, the Spaniard Igor Arrieta, and third was the Dane Tobias Lund Andresen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), both 26 seconds behind the winner.
In the general classification, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) climbed to the first position and the Italian Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti Kometa) dropped to second place. The podium was completed by Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL).
As for the four Colombians, they all came behind the winner, entering the final positions of the day: Alvaro Hodeg 105th, Jhonatan Restrepo 112th, Juan Sebastian Molano 113th and Jonathan Guatibonza 114th.
The Croatian race will continue this Friday with the dispute of the fourth stage, a mountainous day with 160 kilometers, which will be run between Krk and Labin, which includes three mountain passes in the final part.
Cro Race (2.1)
Results Stage 3 | Novi Vinodolski – Opatija (89,5 km)
| 1 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates | 1:47:33 |
| 2 | Igor Arrieta | UAE Team Emirates | 0:26 |
| 3 | Tobias Lund Andresen | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 4 | Filippo Ganna | INEOS Grenadiers | ,, |
| 5 | Sakarias Loland | Uno-X Mobility | ,, |
| 6 | Mirco Maestri | Team Polti Kometa | ,, |
| 7 | Pier-André Coté | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 8 | Warren Barguil | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 9 | Pablo Castrillo | Equipo Kern Pharma | ,, |
| 10 | Kim Heiduk | INEOS Grenadiers | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates | 7:56:38 |
| 2 | Giovanni Lonardi | Team Polti Kometa | 0:30 |
| 3 | Tobias Lund Andresen | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 0:36 |
| 4 | Igor Arrieta | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 5 | Cyrus Monk | Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team | ,, |
| 6 | Fred Wright | Bahrain – Victorious | 0:38 |
| 7 | Mirco Maestri | Team Polti Kometa | 0:40 |
| 8 | Fran Miholjevic | Bahrain – Victorious | ,, |
| 9 | Kim Heiduk | INEOS Grenadiers | ,, |
| 10 | Anders Folgader | Team Jayco AlUla | 0:41 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico