Brandon McNulty wins Cro Race's queen stage with Pogacar-like attack

UAE Team Emirates cannot stop winning. After winning the second stage of the Cro Race with Juan Sebastián Molano, Brandon McNulty kept the streak going with an impressive solo win on the third day which puts him in the race lead after a successful long-range attack.

A stage with only 89 kilometers in distance, with climbing right from the start and a lot of rain all throughout the day. The first half of the stage saw several attacks but the pace was so high that at no point a group managed to get a real gap and form the day's breakaway. There was none, in fact. With 53 kilometers to go INEOS' Kim Heiduk launched an attack and went off the front and soon after was joined by Brandon McNulty.

The winning move was made there. The hilly terrain and rainy conditions made it impossible to chase on the descents whilst uphill the American held his own very well. Bahrain - Victorious chased on, but with 41 kilometers to go Heiduk was dropped and soon after INEOS Grenadiers would be the main chasers back in the peloton.

But despite the furious pace, McNulty held his gap on his own impressively. He flew to the stage win with a large gap over the closest competitor. In the peloton there were several crashes in the very wet descents including Pablo Castrillo who was chasing in the final kilometers.

Several attacks took place in the final hilltops in the peloton which created differences but there was damage all over the place. UAE teammate Igor Arrieta escaped to finish second whilst Tobias Lund Andresen sprinted to third.