It’s going to take more than crosswinds and the kitchen sink to deny Jonathan Milan on this Giro d’Italia. Despite being caught out by a huge split in the peloton with 60km remaining of Stage 13, the Italian’s Lidl-Trek team kept their cool before delivering their man to a third sprint win while all Milan’s rivals faded.
Belgium’s Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Australians Kaden Grove (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Caleb Ewan (Jayco-AlUla) were not even in the top 10 despite their teams piling on the hurt when Lidl-Trek were caught short in the wind.
Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) launched too early and allowed Milan to use his slipstream before powering to the line ahead of Poland’s Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) and Germany’s Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious). Dutchman Tim Van Dijk (Visma-Lease a Bike) and France’s Hugo Hofstetter (Israel-Premier Tech) completed the top five.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) negotiated the crosswind chaos without any worry and finished safely in the pack to retain the pink jersey ahead of Saturday’s individual time trial and Sunday’s key summit finish, where the Slovenian will look to put to bed a race that he already leads by almost two minutes on his nearest challenger.
But the day was less about pink than the ciclamino skinsuit of Milan, who moved to over 100 points clear in the standings of the jersey he won on his Grand Tour debut at last year’s Giro.
More to follow