Colombian becomes 20th rider of squad to win this year

Sebastian Molano timed both his sprint and maiden victory of 2024 late as he triumphed on stage 2 of the CRO Race in Croatia today.

The short but sharp transition from Biograd na Moru to Novalja (114.5km) was favourable for the sprinters with a large peloton coming to the line.

Igor Arrieta was tasked with dropping Molano into place as the 29-year-old fastman weaved and dived his way through the chaos in the closing kilometre. Molano won out over Italian Giovanni Lonardi (Polti Kometa) and Australian Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) in third.

In winning the stage Molano becomes the 20th different rider on the roster to win a professional race this year, surpassing the previously held record of 19 which had been held by Mapei-Quickstep since the year 2000. The 2024-win tally now rises to 76 for the Emirati outfit.

Molano: “I’m really happy to take this win, my first of the season, finally. I’ve been looking for this win for a long time, but things just didn’t click. I want to try and add to it now and give everything to get more wins on the board before the end of the year.”

Stage 2 results

1.Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) 2:16:19

2.Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) s.t

3.Sam Welsford (Bora Red Bull) s.t