Fast finale sees Tobias Lund Andresen sprint to 5th in Ozalj

The penultimate day of racing saw a sprint finale into the town of Ozalj, where a fast run-in saw Tobias Lund Andresen get up to take fifth place.

Leaving Crikvenica on Saturday morning, the bunch were faced with almost 27 kilometres of uphill, where a strong pace was set behind the early break which formed. Riding strongly as a unit, Team dsm-firmenich managed to get five riders into the reduced peloton, with most of the other sprinters missing, but with some quickly returning, the pace went out. Things then settled into a steady rhythm with Oscar Onley doing a great job of contributing to the pace setting in the bunch. As a result, the last remaining rider from the break was caught outside ten kilometres to go and a sprint finish was on the cards. Things were controlled into a headwind until around two kilometres to go before the bunch made a turn and the pace ramped up. The team were caught a bit far behind and despite their best efforts, Lund Andresen had to start his sprint from deep. Giving it his best shot, he managed to hold on to the line for a solid fifth place, with one more opportunity to go on Sunday.

Lund Andresen said: “Today started with a climb, where we all had to go all out to make it over the top. We still had five guys in a 40 man group with all the other top sprinters dropped. Kristoff came back fast and after that the pace went completely out of the group, so everyone else came back. Oscar was then really strong pulling to close down the break. In the final we were too far back and had to come from far behind before the last corner. After that I opened up a long sprint, but had to use too much energy beforehand and ended up in fifth.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Joey van Rhee added: “We managed the first climb in a good way. Oscar went on the front to help the chase to then bring back the break. Unfortunately, we then made some mistakes. We knew that we needed to be at the front at around ten kilometres to go and were too far back. We managed to get back into a good spot behind INEOS and on Viviani’s wheel but we were then boxed out of that. That meant Tobias had to start his sprint too early and from too far back and it was tough for us to get a top result. We will have a good look at the finish today and then work hard tomorrow to fix the things that weren’t so good, and we’re all motivated to end the week here on a high.”