Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) powered to his second stage win of the 2024 Giro d’Italia – and the third of his career – in a bunch sprint into a headwind in Francavilla al Mare.
The 23-year-old Italian crossed the line ahead of Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), who was later relegated for deviating from his line and thus blocking Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates). Following the relegation, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was awarded runner-up honors with Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) in third. Behind those contending for the win, a crash brought down a few of the other sprinters, including Fabio Jakobsen (DSM Firmenich-PostNL).
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely to retain his GC lead.
A clear sprinter’s stage with a hectic finish
- With no categorized climbs inside the last 150 km of the stage from Foiano di Val Fortore, it was a clear opportunity for the sprinters, and they were not going to let this one get away. The three-rider early breakaway was kept on a tight leash and caught with around 35 km to go, and a brief attack by Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) was the only other attempt to get clear. The peloton was all together for the final 15 km.
- The teams of the sprinters and GC riders alike were motivated to ride hard on a twisting run-in to the final 3 km, making for a very fast approach to Francavilla al Mare. Pogačar’s teammate Felix Großschartner went down in a crash, but he remounted quickly.
- Alpecin-Deceuninck led under the flamme rouge with several other sprinters’ teams each having a rider or two in the lined-out and somewhat disorganized bunch behind.
- As the peloton pushed into a headwind on the finishing straight, Jayco-AlUla’s Luka Mezgec hit the front only to realize that Caleb Ewan was not with him. When he took his foot off the proverbial pedal, Soudal-Quick Step took the lead for Merlier.
- With Milan tucked in behind him, Merlier surged to his right with with some 200 meters to go just as Molano was trying to launch his own sprint, leaving Molano with no room and forcing him to slow down. Meanwhile, Milan launched on Merlier’s left side.
- Milan pulled past Merlier 50 meters from the line and held on to take the victory.
- A touch of wheels caused a pileup in view of the finish. Fortunately, all of those involved got up and crossed the line.
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Brief analysis
- Amid the chaos of the final kilometer, Soudal-Quick Step did a fine job to put Merlier in position to contend – but facing a headwind, his jump with 200 meters to go may have been just a tad too early. It ultimately would not matter given his subsequent relegation.
- Milan’s Lidl-Trek team worked hard to drive the pace all stage and to keep Milan near the front in the closing kilometers. On the finishing straight, however, Milan decided to glue himself to Merlier’s wheel instead of following his own leadout rider Edward Theuns, and that strategy worked to perfection.
- Once again, Milan looked especially strong in what proved to be a long sprint thanks to the headwind. It took him a few moments to surge past Merlier, but while the Belgian seemed to flag ever-so-slightly in the end, Milan just kept pedaling (at a furiously high cadence) to take the victory.
- With Merlier penalized for his irregular sprint, nobody was particularly close to matching Milan at the finish. Groves was on Milan’s wheel with 100 meters to go, but he was still there when they crossed the line a few seconds later.
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