CRO Race 2022: Jonas Vingegaard secures first win since Tour de France triumph on punchy Stage Three finish

Jonas Vingegaard secured his first victory since his triumphant Tour de France with an impressive display on the first categorised finish of the 2022 CRO Race.

Stage 3 of the race in Croatia brought two climbing tests inside the final 20 kilometres of a 156km route from Sinj to Primostein, finishing on a short but punchy ascent in Primostein.

The Dane produced a powerful surge to hold off the rest of the lead group, out-kicking Team DSM’s Oscar Onley, who produced another impressive performance to take second.

British teenager Onley also showed well at the Tour of Britain earlier in September.

Vingegaard’s win earned the Jumbo-Visma rider ten bonus seconds to lift him to second in the general classification.

“It was a very difficult finish, it was a very bumpy road,” Vingegaard, the standout name in a field that also includes Milan’s team-mate Matej Mohoric, said.

“It was hard to stand on the pedals, so you pretty much had to be seated. The legs were good today, so we worked for it all day and I’m pretty happy.

“It’s nice to win in the last part of the season.”

Vingegaard, Onley and Mohoric are now all within ten seconds of Milan, with Vincenzo Albanese (EOLO-Kometa) completing the GC top five.

Stage 4 is the longest of the race, with two third category ascents providing the stiffest challenge of a 219km parcours from Biograd na Moru to Crikvenica on the Adriatic coast.

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