UAE TEAM EMIRATES‘ SACHA MODOLO SPRINTS TO HIS FIRST SEASONAL VICTORY AT THE TOUR OF CROATIA

Sacha Modolo, UAE Team Emirates, won the opening stage of the Tour of Croatia on 18 April 2017 in a bunch sprint ahead of Eduard-Michael Grosu (Nippo - Vini Fantini), Nicolas Marini (Nippo - Vini Fantini), Dylan Page (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo) crossing the finish line as leader of the General Classification.

The victory is the 42nd of his career: “The team was successful in leading me to the front position as we approached the last kilometer and in ensuring no problems occurred at the last two bends of the route,” said the 29 year old Italian rider, “Ferrari began his role as main lead out in the final 1000 meters and he was great as usual: he knows which speed is needed and the correct timing to launch a sprint. Timing is very important for long sprints, like today, as you need to be sure you breakaway at the correct time not too early and not too late. I was the first to start the sprint, I felt my legs were very good and I blocked the efforts of other riders to overtake me. This victory feels great especially ahead of the Giro d'Italia."

UAE Team Emirates' Sports Director, Orlando Maini, pointing out how important good team performance was: "Niemiec, Polanc and Ravasi worked at the front of the race to control and bridge the gap from the breakaway with support from other teams; Guardini and Ferrari were an impressive lead-out train for the winning sprint of Modolo. Durasek saved his energy in anticipation of tomorrow’s stage, with the summit arrival at Biokovo."