Nicola Ruffoni made it two wins in two days at the Tour of Croatia for Bardiani-CSF as the 26-year-old Italian outsprinted Astana’s Riccardo Minali and Gazprom’s Ivan Savitskiy in Umag.
Vinceno Nibali took over the leader’s jersey as Jaime Roson lost time on the stage.
The race started quite fast with a slight back wind. There were no breakaways for the first 40 kilometers. After Bakarac and the beginning of the climb a breakaway of four riders made a gap of 4 minutes. They kept this difference along the way and also beyond the Tunnel Učka. In the valley of river Mirna and through the flat and fast part of the stage the peloton started to catch up and by Buzet the gap dropped to less than 2.5 minutes.
Just before entering Umag, the final destination town, the bunch annulated the breakaway quartet, with just one of them, Marangoni, keeping a small gap and trying to take a solo win. But with few meters to go, the sprinters caught him and Ruffoni crossed the line first.
Vincenzo Nibali passed the finish line with the same time as the winner and took the first position in general classification.
“I did not expect it. I was already on the bus for a shower, when they called me to get on the podium for the award ceremony” said the captain of Bahrain Merida. “An unusual thing for me to dress the leader’s jersey after a sprint stage. I’m sorry for what happened to Durasek due to yesterday’s crash, but this is cycling.”
?|@RuffoniNicola @Bardiani_CSF wins stage 4 of Tour of Croatia 2017 #TOC2017 pic.twitter.com/POv9IexSVE
— CyclingHub (@CyclingHubTV) 21 aprilie 2017
Tour of Croatia 2017 – stage 4 results (Crikvenica – Umag):
| 1 | Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) | 4:10:15 |
| 2 | Riccardo Minali (Astana) | ,, |
| 3 | Ivan Savitskiy (Gazprom – Rusvelo) | ,, |
| 4 | Marco Canola (Nippo – Vini Fantini) | ,, |
| 5 | Dusan Rajovic (Adria Mobil) | ,, |
| 6 | Alan Marangoni (Nippo – Vini Fantini) | ,, |
| 7 | Daniel Auer (Felbermayr – Simplon Wels) | ,, |
| 8 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 9 | Eduard Grosu (Nippo – Vini Fantini) | ,, |
| 10 | Gasper Katrasnik (Adria Mobil) | ,, |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | 18:13:38 |
| 2 | Jaime Roson (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | +02” |
| 3 | Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +11” |
| 4 | Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bahrain Merida) | +15” |
| 5 | Felix Grossschartner (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | +17” |
| 6 | Oscar Guarin (Bicicletas Strongman) | +27” |
| 7 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +29” |
| 8 | James Knox (Team Wiggins) | +34” |
| 9 | Branislau Samoilau (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | ,, |
| 10 | Michal Schlegel (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) | ,, |
