{"id":459798,"date":"2026-03-06T00:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459798\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:58:11","slug":"croatian-one-day-race-celebrates-two-winners-after-rare-dead-heat-in-sprint-photo-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459798\/","title":{"rendered":"Croatian one-day race celebrates two winners after rare dead heat in sprint photo finish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"c7ca91cf-3f86-4f8f-867e-08087af165e9\">The Croatian UCI 1.2-ranked race, the men&#8217;s Umag Classic, doesn&#8217;t often make the headlines, but Tuesday&#8217;s 14th edition threw up something notable \u2013 a tie for the win.<\/p>\n<p>The one-day race, run on a hilly circuit in the Croatian coastal city of Umag, drew to a close after 142.3km yesterday, with two winners later sharing the top step of the podium.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"c7ca91cf-3f86-4f8f-867e-08087af165e9-2\">Of the 155 riders from 28 teams that had competed in the race, it was <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/dusan-rajovic\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/dusan-rajovic\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/riders\/dusan-rajovic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Du\u0161an Rajovi\u0107<\/a> (Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali) and Adam Brad\u00e1\u010d (Factor Racing) who came out on top after just over three hours of action.<\/p>\n<p>            You may like<\/p>\n<p>The pair led home a mass sprint finish ahead of Erik Fetter (United Shipping), with Rajovi\u0107 coming from behind as Brad\u00e1\u010d sat up early to celebrate victory.<\/p>\n<p>A careful study of the photo finish couldn&#8217;t separate the duo, and so both Brad\u00e1\u010d and Rajovi\u0107 were declared winners.<\/p>\n<p>The result meant that 19-year-old Brad\u00e1\u010d managed to avoid the embarrassing fate that has befallen so many other early celebrators in the past, including Julian Alaphilippe at the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/alaphilippe-relegated-for-irregular-sprint-after-premature-celebration-at-liege-bastogne-liege\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/alaphilippe-relegated-for-irregular-sprint-after-premature-celebration-at-liege-bastogne-liege\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/alaphilippe-relegated-for-irregular-sprint-after-premature-celebration-at-liege-bastogne-liege\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2020 Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge<\/a>, Lorena Wiebes at the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/stupid-but-a-good-lesson-premature-celebration-undoes-wiebes-at-amstel-gold-race\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/stupid-but-a-good-lesson-premature-celebration-undoes-wiebes-at-amstel-gold-race\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/stupid-but-a-good-lesson-premature-celebration-undoes-wiebes-at-amstel-gold-race\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2024 Amstel Gold Race<\/a>, and, most famously of all, Erik Zabel at the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/autobus.cyclingnews.com\/road\/2004\/worldcup04\/msr04\/?id=results\" data-url=\"https:\/\/autobus.cyclingnews.com\/road\/2004\/worldcup04\/msr04\/?id=results\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2004 Milan-San Remo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure what happened \u2013 I think I stopped pedalling a bit too early, and he quickly reached the finish line. In the end, we crossed the line at the same time,&#8221; Brad\u00e1\u010d said later, while Rajovi\u0107 said he was thrilled with the shared result.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;In the last few metres, I noticed Adam slowing slightly, so I decided to push. It&#8217;s a strange feeling to share first place, but I&#8217;m actually quite happy,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In previous years, I won in Pore\u010d and at one Istrian Spring Tour stage, so I&#8217;m thrilled to add this result to my record.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The result is Rajovi\u0107&#8217;s second victory of the season, with the Serb looking for a 2026 to take him beyond the 14 wins he racked up last year \u2013 a tally which saw him among <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/features\/lorena-wiebes-tadej-pogacar-dusan-rajovic-which-rider-won-the-most-road-races-in-2025\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/features\/lorena-wiebes-tadej-pogacar-dusan-rajovic-which-rider-won-the-most-road-races-in-2025\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/features\/lorena-wiebes-tadej-pogacar-dusan-rajovic-which-rider-won-the-most-road-races-in-2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the most successful riders of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>            What to read next<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The Umag Ladies Classic, a 113.6km race on a similar route, avoided a similarly strange conclusion. The reduced sprint finish saw Nika Bobnar (Nexetis) overcome an early crash to score the biggest win of her career to date. The 22-year-old beat Camilla Bezzone (Mendelspeck E-Work) and Rasa Leleivyte (Aromitalia Vaiano) to the line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything still feels unreal \u2013 this was my first UCI race, and I feel incredibly happy. I am extremely grateful to my team, who did a fantastic job,&#8221; Bobnar said later.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Throughout the race, we stayed together as a team, which allowed me to execute the perfect lead-out at the finish \u2013 the ideal moment for my sprint. Although I was the one to cross the line first, this victory belongs to the whole team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IstrianSpringTrophies\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IstrianSpringTrophies\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Istrian Spring Trophies<\/a> series of races continues with the men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s Pore\u010d Classic (March 8) before concluding with the men&#8217;s Istrian Spring Tour (March 12-15).<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:66.53%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/JB6WGqPsrUvWxp6fYM4wgJ.jpg\" alt=\"Istrian Spring series 2026 &amp;ndash;&amp;nbsp;men's Umag Classic\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/JB6WGqPsrUvWxp6fYM4wgJ.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/JB6WGqPsrUvWxp6fYM4wgJ.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Brad\u00e1\u010d and Rajovi\u0107 celebrate their joint first place on the podium (Image credit: Mario Stiehl\/Istrian Spring)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Croatian UCI 1.2-ranked race, the men&#8217;s Umag Classic, doesn&#8217;t often make the headlines, but Tuesday&#8217;s 14th edition&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-459798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}