Who can stop Magnier?! Van Poppel came close, but Frenchman extends top form by winning opening stage in CRO Race

Seven WorldTour teams had decided to travel to Croatia: UAE Emirates-XRG, Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Bahrain Victorious, INEOS Grenadiers, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Soudal Quick-Step, and Jayco AlUla. The Belgian team had Paul Magnier as their most dangerous contender for the sprints. In contrast, UAE had Brandon McNulty and Tim Wellens as their most dangerous contenders for the overall victory.

The first stage would be 162.5 kilometers long, starting in Split, the popular seaside resort. The riders would start south along the coast and then head inland. After approximately 80 kilometers, the riders would arrive in Sinj, followed by a large loop, and then finish in the same place.

There were not many meters of climbing, so it looked like it would be a race for the fast men. From the start, there were at least six riders who could be called early breakaway riders: Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural), Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma), Casper van der Woude (Metec-Solarwatt), Michal Schuran (United Shipping), Mateusz Kostański (Voster ATS), and Ian Peran (Pogi Team) rode away.

The peloton was okay with that, and so the six riders built up a lead of more than four minutes. They did not get much more than that from the pack, where Soudal Quick-Step took control. That was all in the interests of the man in form, Magnier.

Not much happened in the race, although there was some excitement at the front about who would wear the first mountain jersey on Wednesday. There were two short climbs along the way, and Schuran managed to collect the most points on those two climbs. This secured the Czech rider the first mountain jersey.

With the second and final summit just over twenty kilometers from the finish, the peloton had already closed the gap considerably. The gap was only a minute and a half, and Peran was already struggling at the front. Ibáñez took matters into his own hands at the front with an acceleration, and Van der Woude jumped with him. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a failure.

The remaining breakaway riders stayed together and fought hard, but were caught up again in time. Magnier was again excellently positioned in the streets of Sinj and finished nicely, although Van Poppel came very close. The Dutchman finished second, ahead of Oded Kogut, who came third.