Known for his near 2,000-watt peak power, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) added another sprint victory to his palmarès on Tuesday, winning stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico.
The Italian won by a comfortable three bike lengths or so ahead of Tudor’s Maikel Zijlaard to crown his fourth sprint victory of the season. Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) came third.
The 24-year-old Lidl-Trek rider placed ninth on an identical finish in Follonica last year. This time round, with the power of hindsight, and testament to his rise into one of the peloton's strongest finishers, he tossed his arms in the air in celebration.
"We brought the experience from last year and put it [into practice] today," Milan smiled afterwards. "The guys were just guiding me and leading me in the perfect way, how we thought about it. Today was just perfect, thanks to all of them. It was a beautiful day.”
Filtering into the town on the Tyrrhenian coast, the peloton hit speeds in excess of 65km/h, before the sprinters started to kick. Milan was led round a final bend by teammate Simone Consonni, who peeled off to let the 6ft4 sprinter tear through.
“Until the finish line you never know,” Milan said. “I could imagine there was a bit of chaos. We were always in the perfect position, always covered, not losing that much energy in the wind. In the end I just said, 'As we plan it, we make it.' I’m super happy and proud of all my teammates."
A double stage winner at last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan is currently building form into the Classics, and will make his debut at the Tour de France this July.
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"We are happy with this one, and tomorrow we will see. Let’s enjoy this one first," he said.
How it happened
(Image credit: Getty Images)
From the flag drop in Camaiore, a lone escapee nudged ahead of the peloton and set out on a solitary ride towards Follonica.
Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè), a 26-year-old Italian with three career wins to his name, likely always knew that his foray would be fruitless, especially faced with a headwind. He took a lead of three minutes through the 100km to go mark, and ploughed on, hoping to take maximum points over the only categorised climb 40km later. That KOM dream would be scuppered, however, by a Polti VisitMalta raid, Davide Bais taking the spoils.
The peloton came back together inside 40km remaining. At the same time, a small crash occurred in the bunch, forcing David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) into a grass verge. The Frenchman went on to abandon the race, clutching his arm as he got into the team car.
Harbouring race leader and stage one winner, Filippo Ganna, Ineos Grenadiers took up the charge into the finale in Follonica.
A touching of wheels then left Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) tumbling to the floor, still over 10km from the finish, and scrambling to rejoin the pack.
The jostle to lead under the flamme rouge was won by Lidl-Trek, who teed up the spring with an infernal pace. In second wheel through the final bend, Milan sprung off Consonni's lead-out and lashed towards the line. Nobody could respond.
As was the case on stage one, the Italian crowds were gifted another home winner.
1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 4:45:13 2. Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Tudor Pro Cycling 3. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 4. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike 5. Simone Consonni (Ita) Lidl-Tre 6. Sam Bennett (Irl) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale 7. Jake Steward (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech 8. Tim van Dijke (Ned) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 9. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis 10. Enrico Zanoncello (Ita) VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè, all at same time
General classification after stage two
1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, in 4:57:30 2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +19s 3. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE-Team Emirates-XRG, +22s 4. Johan Price-Pejtersen (Den) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +28s 5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +29s 6. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +34s 7. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal-Quick Step, +36s 8. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +37s 9. Isaac Del Toro (Ita) UAE-Team Emirates-XRG, +38s 10. Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Tudor Pro Cycling, +40s
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Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and holds a master's degree in International Journalism, which he passed with distinction. Since 2020, he has been the host of The TT Podcast, offering race analysis and rider interviews.
An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill, and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition, albeit out of 40 entrants.
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