Cycling news - Grosu claims overall CRO Race lead with bold late break in Zadar

The Romanian had finished behind Marko Kump and Yevgeniy Gidich in a three-man photo finish at the end of the opening day of the race in Croatia.

However, he made sure he would not have rely on such fine margins on the second day of the race when he attacked on his own in the final kilometre.

The Delko-Marseille-Provence rider capitalised on the tentativeness of other riders in damp conditions and broke from the front of the pack on a tight left-hander, backing himself to hold off the chasers in the final 40 seconds.

Those who had watched the footage of last year's race would have expected it as Grosu pulled an almost identical trick in Zadar 12 months ago.

The three-second gap over the line, combined with a 10-second bonus for winning the stage, saw him overhaul yesterday's winner Kump in the overall standings and take the red leader's jersey.

Alex Edmondson, the Australian Mitchelton-Scott rider who pipped Kump to second on the day, was one of those caught up in a crash after the finish line when a running spectator took three riders down.

However, all three appeared to suffer nothing worse than superficial injuries and should be fit to ride from Okrug to Makarska tomorrow.