ZAGREB, 6 October 2024 — American Brandon McNulty, member of UAE Team Emirates, has won the ninth edition of the CRO Race. After six riveting stages, McNulty topped the general classification with eight seconds over second-placed Dane Tobias Lund Andresen (dsm-firmenich-PostNL), while Brit Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) took third in the general classification with 27 seconds to McNulty.
“It’s a great feeling to end the season with a win, this was my last race this year. I’d like to thank the team for having supported me all week,” said winner Brandon McNulty.
The winner of the final, 157.5-kilometre sixth stage from Sveta Nedelja to Zagreb is Israeli champion Oded Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech), who outpaced Norwegian duo Alexander Kristoff in second and Tord Gudmestad in third, both from team Uno-X Mobility. Kogut and Kristoff thus switched places as compared to stage five a day earlier in Karlovac, which the Norwegian won.
The battle for the general classification lasted until the very end of the race—McNulty’s advantage over Andresen after the final intermediate sprint had shrunk to less than the 10-second bonus that goes to the stage winner. But after taking two of the intermediate sprints during the stage, Andresen did not have the legs to battle for the stage win. As a consolation prize, he will take home the blue jersey for best sprinter and the white jersey for best young rider. The green king of the mountains jersey goes to Dutchman Axel van der Tuuk (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel). The top team ranking of the race goes to Dutch squad dsm-firmenich-PostNL.
As the first intermediate sprint in Sveta Nedelja was just three kilometres out from the start, Andresen took the opportunity to grab three more bonus seconds. McNulty’s teammate, Columbian Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Emirates), tried to stop him from doing so, but only managed to take second and the corresponding two bonus seconds; third place and the final bonus second went to Canadian Pier-André Côté (Israel-Premier Tech).
Shortly after the intermediate sprint, a breakaway group of five riders formed—Poles Konrad Czabok (Mazowsze Serce Polski) and Kaczper Maciejuk (Santic-Wibertech), Brit Charles Paige (TDT-Unibet), Slovak Matthias Schwarzbacher (ATT Investments), and Dutchman Casper van der Woude (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel). The five topped out their lead at two and a half minutes, with the peloton, led by dsm-firmenich-PostNL, kept them at arm’s reach.
At the second intermediate sprint in Dugo Selo, the bonus seconds went to the breakaway, with Maciejuk ahead of Paige and Schwarzbacher; the same five were also first across the day’s only KOM in Sveti Ivan Zelina, where Van der Woude took first, Maciejuk second, and Schwarzbacher third.
The last remaining breakaway riders were caught up 18 kilometres from the finish line; the bonus seconds at the final intermediate sprint at the first pass over the finish line, 10 metres from the end of the race, were scooped up by Tobias Lund Andresen (dsm-firmenich-PostNL), Pier-André Côté (Israel-Premier Tech), and Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious). These three bonus seconds brought McNulty just eight seconds behind McNulty, and so the question of who would take the GC remained unanswered until the very end.
Of the four Croatian riders, the best placed in the general classification was Fran Miholjević (Bahrain Victorious) in 24th place with 1’55 to the winner.
This year’s final KIDS CRO Race competition was held in Zagreb in cooperation with local primary schools. This is a virtual race on turbo trainers reserved for boys and girls aged 9 to 12; the goal is to present kids with a fun way to do sports and exercise, and offer them a unique experience. The winners in Zagreb in the 9-10-year-old category are Dora Horjan from A. Stepinac Primary School and Niko Linarić from Kustošija Primary School. The winners in the 11-12-year-old category are Linda Šimunić from Ivo Andrić Primary School and Adrian Sudec from Jure Kaštelan Primary School.
After the Zagreb edition of KIDS CRO Race the overall winners of all seven races this year were determined based on the best total times. The overall winners in the 9 to 10 age category are Lili Hajdo and Noel Vuković from Opatija, while in the 11 to 12 age category, the winners are Franka Pražen from Vodice and Ricardo Brenčić from Labin. The KIDS CRO Race winners participated in the closing ceremony alongside the overall winner and winning team. Approximately 500 children participated in total.
Cyclists were greeted at the starting line by Dario Zurovec, mayor of Sveta Nedelja, and MP Petar Buić, deputy mayor of Samobor.
The cyclists were met at the finish line by: tourism and sport minister Tonči Glavina on behalf of PM Andrej Plenković; Luka Korlaet, deputy mayor of Zagreb, on behalf of mayor Tomislav Tomašević; and Dubravko Šimenc, representative of the Croatian Tourist Board and specialist coordinator of the Special Marketing Projects Department.