September 30, 2025
When the weather cooperates, the Cro Race is one of the most beautiful all season long. Last year it rained nearly every day so the riders will be hoping for better luck in this 10th edition. The race kicks off in the famous seaside resort city of Split and heads South along the coast to Omiš where the 162KM route cuts inland up the Gata climb for 5 uphill kilometers at around 5%. Once inland, the route moves North to Trili for the first intermediate sprint with 97KM to go. 13KM later comes the first passage of the finish in Sinj and another intermediate sprint before making one 84KM clockwise loop around the glacier-made Boračko lake. There are two short climbs of 5%, each around 600M long, that come in the last 15KM but we should see a sprinter take the win and the first leader's jersey of the race.
The sun was out at the start to show off everything Split and the surrounding area has to offer. Seven riders made the break originally but only six were left through the second intermediate sprint in Sinj including Michal Schuran of United Shipping, Casper van der Woude of Metec-SOLARWATT, Mateusz Kostański of Voster-ATS, Diego Uriarte of Equipo Kern Pharma, Javier Ibáñez Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, and Ian Peran of Pogi Team Gusto Ljubljana. They had 4 minutes 30 seconds with 78KM to go as Soudal Quickstep were setting the pace in the peloton. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Ineos each added a man to the chase and the gap came down to a more manageable 3 minutes at 64KM to go.
As the riders rounded the top of Boračko lake and came down the Eastern side, the gap was slowly coming down to just 2 minutes with 25KM to go. Cohesion broke down in the lead group with 17KM to go as Ibáñez attacked. The group came back but the speed dropped and the gap fell to 1 minute just 2KM later. UAE-XRG, Ineos, and Soudal Quickstep brought more riders up to the front to continue the chase and get into position for the finale.
Van der Woude was the last member of the break to be caught at 3.5KM to go. Israel-Premier Tech and Polti-VisitMalta got in the mix as did ATT Investments. Soudal Quickstep's Paul Magnier was boxed in until 1KM to go when a gap opened on the left side of the road which allowed him move up into the front bubble of riders. At 700M, Magnier had two men in front but they were being challenged by Ineos with Michał Kwiatkowski bringing Ben Turner into position. Mirco Maestri of Polti-VisitMalta jumped both trains but Giovanni Lonardi was too far back and couldn't take advantage of his teammates position. At 200M, both Magnier and Turner opened up at the same time from opposite sides of the road and it was Magnier who quickly went ahead. Following Magnier was Danny van Poppel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Oded Kogut of Israel-Premier Tech but neither had enough to come around the young Frenchman who grabbed his fifth win in two weeks after dominating the Tour de Slovaquie. Van Poppel took second with Kogut a bike length back in third place.