The 4th stage of the Tour of Croatia finished with a 22km climb. Riccardo Zoidl (Trek-Segafredo) showed he was the strongest climber at the race, taking the win ahead of Matja Kvasina (Synergy Baku) with Victor de la Parte (CCC Sprandi) in 3rd.
With today’s stage only 124km long and the last 20km all being uphill, it was near impossible that an early break would succeed today. Nevertheless, there was a lot of attacking in the early stages and our African Team was also involved. 8 riders eventually got away but as expected they were caught on the big final climb.
With Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka sending a sprint squad to the Tour of Croatia, today was never going to be a day for our African Team. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Nic Dougall would test the legs to see what was possible, and both riders were part of the reduced peloton that started the final climb together.
With a number of strong climbers at the race, it was not possible for our 2 South African talents to follow the more slightly built figures up the climb to Ucka. Instead, it became a day of saving the legs for our Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka riders with the goal of targeting a top result at tomorrow’s 40km team time trial.
Alex Sans Vega – Sport Director
