Cro Race, Croatia 27.09-02.10

[ciranda]

stage 1: Osijek-Ludbreg, 223,5 km

The first stage starts in the north east and follows the serbian and hungarian borders to the far north of the country. It looks most likely to be a mass sprint finish despite a three km long hill with around four percent that has to be ascended two times in the last 25 km.

The Ineos and Trek teams will look to control today's stage for Viviani and Moschetti/Brustenga. Some other potential candidates for the win: Menten, Albanese, Modolo, Roosen, someone from Bardiani, Alan Banaszek and look out for Axel Laurance, second in GP Plouay.

For the overall it's probably going to be mostly about Miholjević , Mohorič, Buitrago and Caruso (Bahrain), Kwiatkowski and Thomas (Ineos), Vingegaard, Bouwman and Leemreize (Jumbo) and Tiberi (Trek) for the win. But it's a course with no real tough mountain finish so a lot can happen, hopefully. Stages three, four and five will be hard to control.

There's six croatian riders at the start line: Fran Miholjević (Bahrain), Viktor Potočki and Carlo Jurišević (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) and Antonio Barać, Lorenzo Marenzi and Filip Kvasina (Meridiana Kamen Team).

 

[AlfaLum]

Mohoric says he is feeling very good and is the team captain for Bahrain according to their website. So I would put him above Miholevic and Caruso for sure.

 

[tobydawq]

Mohoric says he is feeling very good

Good job not going to the Worlds then...

 

[AlfaLum]

Good job not going to the Worlds then...

Should have been there to work for Mads Pedersen Yes.

 

[sir fly]

Every year I'm expecting a breakthrough route but they're failing to meet my expectations... modest level of imagination.
Something along Karlobag - Ogulin - Karlovac - Virovitica lines would be epic... with a Glina tt.
But looking at the latest developments across Adriatic, stressing Dalmatia and Istra is the way to go.

 

[ciranda]

To add to the six riders from Croatia there's also 14 riders from Slovenia, two from Serbia and one from Bosnia Herzegovina in the race. No one from North Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

Was there a Tour of Yugoslavia in the old days?

I can't find text updates. Live tv starts at 15.00 central euro time.

 

[sir fly]

To add to the six riders from Croatia there's also 14 riders from Slovenia, two from Serbia and one from Bosnia Herzegovina in the race. No one from Macedonia/FYROM, Kosovo and Montenegro.

Was there a Tour of Yugoslavia in the old days?

I can't find text updates. Live tv starts at 15.00 central euro time.

Macedonia/FYROM has become North Macedonia.
Once there was Tour of Yugoslavia. And it's scarcely mentioned, during contemporary races we can watch, as a piece of cycling tradition.

 

[Lequack]

Vingegaard is looking good. Seems like this is the race he was targeting all along, winning TDF was just something he did as part of his training.

 

[Carols]

Milan takes it, Chapeau. Nasty weather all day!

 

[DNP-Old]

Oscar Onley is ready to do some big things.

 

[RedheadDane]

Not the best filming of that finish...

@Red Rick!

 

[sir fly]

A bit strange finale.
Milan unaware of the line.
Wonder if Mohorič will have a question or two.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Six M's in the top 10!

 

[sir fly]

Six M's in the top 10!

RhDitis' spreading...

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Six M's in the top 10!

eleven, six of them are at the start of last names

 

[RedheadDane]

Six M's in the top 10!

The podium has a 100% Italian M score.

 

[Danskebjerge]

The podium has a 100% Italian M score.

Coincidence? No.

 

[RedheadDane]

Coincidence? No.

A damn shame Mosca couldn't get fourth.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Nice win for Milan, he's a Track pursuit specialist with a good sprint and a big engine. I see him as a potential top leadout man and the type of rider who could do well in Paris-Roubaix and some of the more sprinter friendly cobbled classics.

 

[SafeBet]

I'm struggling to understand why Kirby pronounces Milan (the rider) in a different way compared to Milan (the city) but then again it's Kirby so...

 

[sir fly]

I'm struggling to understand why Kirby pronounces Milan (the rider) in a different way compared to Milan (the city) but then again it's Kirby so...

To avoid confusion, obviously.

 

[tobydawq]

I'm struggling to understand why Kirby pronounces Milan (the rider) in a different way compared to Milan (the city) but then again it's Kirby so...

I think I'm with Kirby here. The city's name is obviously not Milan in Italian and the English version has the emphasis on the last syllable whereas the name wouldn't have that in Italian.

But okay, here I am sitting and preaching about Italian pronunciation rules to an Italian person so I should probably just shut it

 

[tobydawq]

I think I'm with Kirby here. The city's name is obviously not Milan in Italian and the English version has the emphasis on the last syllable whereas the name wouldn't have that in Italian.

But okay, here I am sitting and preaching about Italian pronunciation rules to an Italian person so I should probably just shut it

Okay, I take it back now that I think about every other Italian name I know which finishes on a consonant where the emphasis is on the last syllable.

To be fair I am yet to hear anyone saying his name correctly if the stress really should be put on the "an".

 

[Mayomaniac]

I think I'm with Kirby here. The city's name is obviously not Milan in Italian and the English version has the emphasis on the last syllable whereas the name wouldn't have that in Italian.

But okay, here I am sitting and preaching about Italian pronunciation rules to an Italian person so I should probably just shut it

That said, Milan is a slavic name, he's from Buja, the same town as De Marchi, near the Slovenian border and the whole area is/was a bit of a linguistic/ethnic melting pot.

 

[CHGJ2000]

Nice win for Milan, he's a Track pursuit specialist with a good sprint and a big engine. I see him as a potential top leadout man and the type of rider who could do well in Paris-Roubaix and some of the more sprinter friendly cobbled classics.

FWIW: While Milan has achieved a lot on the track, he doesn't actually have a huge background in it or really specializes in it. At least so the story goes that one of the staff at CTF in 2019 contacted the italian national team and said they should try Milan out because they thought he'd be good at the TP (massive sprinter who can get in a flat back position being a pretty good blueprint for a pursuit rider). Back half of 2019 he competed in his first international track meet (u23 euros), then made pretty rapid improvements from there (even up to 2021 Milan was known for being not particularly great technically on the track, probably because of his relative lack of experience compared to some).

I'd also look out for him in TT's in the future if he goes to a team with a bit better infrastructure, as he was a pretty big TT talent in u23s (5th at euros at 19, won NC) and considering his size and climbing ability must have truly massive raw power.