Team dsm-firmenich power to 2nd in CRO Race with Tobias Lund Andresen, Pavel Bittner 4th

After a massive lead-out from the team in the third stage of the CRO Race, Team dsm-firmenich’s Tobias Lund Andresen powered to another podium and claimed the race lead in Croatia. Pavel Bittner finished just behind in fourth.

The peloton rolled out from the middle of Croatia – in Otočac – as they awaited a 133.5-kilometre parcour, including 2,000 elevation metres towards the finish in Opatija. The fight for the break started immediately after the start and a small group of six riders was allowed to go clear, whilst Team dsm-firmenich stayed together and focused in the group behind.

Coming into the finale of the stage, the race kicked off and the pace went up in the bunch, with the break seeing their advantage reducing steadily and the last rider being caught with before the thirty kilometres sign. The team then moved up to the front of the race with Oscar Onley, Frank van den Broek and Matt Dinham going on the attack, although they were not given much space. With the ever-reducing peloton approaching the technical finale, the team provided Lund Andresen with a massive lead-out with Pavel Bittner doing a great final pull. Unfortunately, the Dane lost the wheel of his teammate but showed resilience and managed to cross the line in second place, whilst Bittner finished just behind in fourth.

Taking a double top five in Croatia see Team dsm-firmenich claiming the leader’s jersey with Lund Andresen and a tremendous sixth spot on GC for Bittner.

After the race, Lund Andresen commented: “Today we came in with a plan to get safely into the descent and we managed to do that perfectly throughout the day. In the final, we wanted to come first into the climbs on the local laps, which again we did perfectly without using too much energy. We wanted to keep it hard on the climbs and not close down breaks on the final lap to drop the other sprinters. We did everything perfectly as we planned, but unfortunately, I lost the wheel from Pavel as Mohoric came in between, after which I had to come from behind. Then, I couldn’t optimally launch my sprint as I had to change my direction many times. I want to thank the team as they did everything perfectly today and showed a great effort to keep me safe throughout the day.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Joey van Rhee added: “Yesterday we evaluated our race and we made a clear plan today. We now kept calm in the finale, and the plan was almost perfectly executed. Pavel went through the most important corner before the descent first, but Tobias unfortunately lost his wheel there. Then he showed some good resilience and made some moves in the descent and eventually crossed the line in second. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take the win today, but that’s racing. Tobias is the new race leader tomorrow as we will see a day for the GC guys tomorrow. The motivation is really here in the team and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s stage in Croatia.”