The 2024 Giro d’Italia started with a packed field of sprinters but through six bunch finishes just two of them have dominated, with five wins between them. Stage 18 was a straight-up showdown between Maglia Ciclamino wearer Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek and Soudal-Quick Step’s Tim Merlier and in a chaotic sprint that featured no true leadout, it was Merlier who came out on top by just a few centimeters to end Milan’s two-stage streak. Overall leader Tadej Pogačar had a quiet and uneventful day to keep his commanding race lead.
A brief reprieve from climbing
- After three straight mountain stages and with two more on tap Friday and Saturday, Thursday’s 178km ride from Fiera di Primiero to Padova represented the last chance for a bunch finish before the 2024 Giro wraps up in Rome on Sunday. As such, the day unfolded largely according to plan.
- An early four-rider break went clear with some reliable breakaway suspects in Polti-Kometa’s Mirco Maestri and Andrea Pietrobon, as well as VF Bardiani’s Filippo Fiorelli; between the three of them they’ve spent more than 1,200 km in breakaways, and were joined by EF Education-EasyPost’s Mikkel Frolich Honoré.
- But it would be a long and interminable day out for the quartet. After 100 km of racing, their advantage dropped from two minutes to 30 seconds and then dwindled from there as the pack tried hard not to make the catch. For almost 60 km, the break could look behind them and see the peloton massed just a couple hundred meters behind, and the inevitable catch came with 10 km to go.
- As the sprinters teams lined up, Ineos Grenadiers’ Thymen Arensman had a moment of panic with a mechanical problem, but alert teammates – in the form of a fast bike swap with Connor Swift and Jhonatan Narváez to help pace him – saw him regain the pack in short order.
- The finish in urban Padova featured two 90-degree corners inside the last kilometer, which severely disrupted the rhythm of the sprinters teams. Lidl-Trek, which had lurked near but not at the front for much of the final 10 km, finally hit the gas with Simone Consonni ready to launch Milan, but the sprinter’s magenta jersey was well back in around 15th position.
- Milan and Merlier gradually moved up alongside each other, fighting for a draft on Cofidis’ Stanislaw Aniołkowski’s wheel, and when Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria did his usual too-early kick, the two split around Aniołkowski to open their own sprints in opposite lanes. As the pair surfed past Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Kaden Groves, it was Merlier’s bike throw that just managed to put his front wheel across a few centimeters in front of Milan’s.
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Brief analysis
- Milan might be miffed at missing a fourth stage win, but with his second place he now has a massive, 127-point lead to Groves in the Maglia Ciclamino competition. With two climbing days to come and only the Rome bunch finish left, there simply aren’t enough points left on the road for any rider to overtake Milan. Unless he fails to make it to Rome he’ll wrap up his second-straight points competition win in the Giro.
- Tadej Pogačar took a backseat today, but the Slovenian’s outright dominance over the race remains a topic of discussion, with opinions ranging from discontent over his Hoovering up stage wins to questions about whether he’s going too deep, and finally whether after completing the Giro-Tour double he’ll attempt an unprecedented triple Grand Tour campaign at the Vuelta España. His UAE Team Emirates director Joxean Matxin Fernandez scoffed at all that in an interview with Spain’s Radio COPE, saying that “we race to win” and claiming that his star rider actually is starting to take it easy, and ruled out any Vuelta plans, as maybe one of UAE’s other talented riders deserves a leadership crack.
- Speaking of Pogačar and criticism, apparently Strava’s planned AI initiative to police suspicious KOMs isn’t online yet (or is online and is a Pogi-hater), because his uploads keep getting flagged.
It was not a perfect line, but we managed to be in a good position. I was a bit surprised; the last kilometer was really fast with the two corners and I was surprised when we were already in the last 500 meters. I found my moment but I had to go a bit around, but in the end I made it.
Merlier, describing the hectic final kilometer
Up next
It’s back to the mountains with a 157 km ride from Mortegliano to Sappada that features three categorized climbs. It’s not technically a summit finish, but with the Cima Sappada coming 6 km from the finish and featuring ramps of 11% it’s the perfect launching pad for attacks from a break or a bridge attempt if any chasers are close behind.
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