Molano wins in Croatia to make history for UAE Team Emirates

Colombian becomes 20th rider of squad to win this year

Sebastian Molano timed both his sprint and maiden victory of 2024 late as he triumphed on stage 2 of the CRO Race in Croatia today.

The short but sharp transition from Biograd na Moru to Novalja (114.5km) was favourable for the sprinters with a large peloton coming to the line.

Igor Arrieta was tasked with dropping Molano into place as the 29-year-old fastman weaved and dived his way through the chaos in the closing kilometre. Molano won out over Italian Giovanni Lonardi (Polti Kometa) and Australian Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) in third.

In winning the stage Molano becomes the 20th different rider on the roster to win a professional race this year, surpassing the previously held record of 19 which had been held by Mapei-Quickstep since the year 2000. The 2024-win tally now rises to 76 for the Emirati outfit.

Molano: “I’m really happy to take this win, my first of the season, finally. I’ve been looking for this win for a long time, but things just didn’t click. I want to try and add to it now and give everything to get more wins on the board before the end of the year.”

Stage 2 results

1.Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) 2:16:19

2.Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) s.t

3.Sam Welsford (Bora Red Bull) s.t