PARIS (AFP) - Slovenian rider Matej Mohoric has won the Tour of Croatia finishing just one second ahead of Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard after the sixth and final stage.
Competing in his first race since winning the Tour in July, Vingegaard had gone into the final stage in the leader’s red jersey.
But the Jumbo Visma rider was unable to position himself in the final sprint won by Italian Elia Viviani.
Viviani, of Ineos Grenadiers, finished the stage ahead of Bahrain’s Mohoric who with bonus points won the race ahead on Vingegaard.
The Dane had looked set to seal victory after his success on the penultimate day, the queen stage, his second success after stage three.
On Saturday, through the cobbled streets of Labin, the 25-year-old launched a decisive attack to overtake Mohoric in particular, and seized the leader’s jersey.
But in Zagreb on Sunday, just 2km from the finish line, he found himself behind at the final sprint, perhaps hampered by the fall of Frenchman Axel Laurance, in a stage well controlled by the Ineos team.
Vingegaard is due to compete next week in the Tour of Lombardy, a race he considers his end-of-season goal, having skipped the Tour of Denmark and the world championships in Australia.