The Tour de France winner is now one step closer to securing the title of the UCI 2.1-ranked event after catching late-race attacker Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) on the final climb into the finish of Stage 5, as well as surpassing Oscar Onley (Development Team DSM) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) en route to the stage win.
The Jumbo-Visma rider was part of a large breakaway and then formed part of a select group which looked to chase down Rolland, who made his break in the final three kilometres of the 154km route from Opatija to Labin.
However, the fatigue visibly started to weigh on the B&B Hotels-KTM rider, his teammate Axel Laurance having won the previous stage, on a day which included six categorised ascents and a punchy circuit climb to the finish in Labin as the group started to edge closer in the final kilometre.
Vingegaard attacked on the cobbled ascent and through the finish line with a move which greatly reshuffled the general classification, as the overall leader from the previous day, Italian Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), slipped to 15th overall after the challenging stage despite having a 10-second lead on his Danish rival at the start of the day.
Vingegaard now leads the overall race into the final stage 6 by eight seconds, ahead of Mohorič and Onley as they tackle a flatter 158km course from Sveta Nedelja to Zagreb.
The 25-year-old discussed the photo finish of the race's penultimate stage ahead of the final stage 6 tonight (AEDT).
"I had to gamble at the end of the stage and wait for the right moment to attack," the race leader said after stage five.
"My team did a great job throughout the stage. This race reminded me of Vuelta al País Vasco, it was an interesting stage and difficult to race. I'm not sure that I secured overall victory because Mohorič is very close to me, and there are also several other fast riders."
The CRO Race concludes tonight with Stage 6 as Vingegaard will try desperately not to relinquish his six-second lead in the race. Watch all the action from 10pm (AEST) on SBS On Demand.
