Great Britain’s Matt Gibson came fourth as stage one of the Tour of Istria finished in a bunch sprint in Croatia.
The opening leg of the three-day race took riders 114 kilometres from Porec, down western Croatia before turning back up the heart of the country to Buzket.
France’s Aurelien Paret-Peintre took the stage win.
The event, the second race in the UCI Junior Nations’ Cup, features a six-person Great Britain squad - Joe Fry, Leon Gledhill, Matt Gibson, Matt Bostock, Joe Evans and Gabriel Cullaigh.
Cullaigh had been involved a late break with 10 kilometres remaining.
But it was caught by the peloton and with no one able to break free, it was left to a sprint with Joe Evans helping teammate Gibson in the closing kilometres.
Saturday’s stage two is a 90-kilometres journey from Umag to Labin across the breadth of Croatia to Labin.
