Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) reaffirmed his dominance over the Giro d’Italia sprint field on stage 13 with a third victory at the 2024 race in Cento, strengthening his hold on the maglia ciclamino after a perfect Lidl-Trek lead-out.
Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) started the sprint early as he’s tended to do in recent years, prompting Milan to jump from the wheel of his last man Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) and chase down the Colombian, before blasting past him for the hat-trick with no one matching his top speed.
Milan was dropped earlier in the stage when Ineos Grenadiers ignited the racing in the crosswinds with 60km to go but worked well with his full squad in a frantic 20km chase to ensure he had the chance to fight for the win.
A great sprint from Poland’s Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) saw him take second behind the Italian, with Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) taking third in Emilia-Romagna.
Despite expending so much effort in the echelons, Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns and Consonni also proved that Lidl-Trek had the best sprint outfit as a whole at the 2024 Giro, earning high praise from their powerful sprint leader.
“Let's say that it was a moment when I stopped and then it happened these echelons in the front,” explained Milan of the moment he lost contact.
“The guys, like always, did an amazing job. We really pushed full gas to come back and catch the first group and then we always stayed in the first positions, then they delivered me in the perfect position."
Milan’s track teammate Consonni has been the top final lead-out man, navigating the final few twisting bends into Cento with his sprinter glued to his wheel.
“We started the finish really well. We knew we had to come in the last corner with Simone and he had to start his leadout with 400m to go,” Milan said. “It was impressive how the guys rode today, how everyone did his part, how everyone pulled for this team goal. I’m super happy, super proud of the guys and like always I have to say thanks to them.”
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) maintained his race lead after staying safe in the nervous crosswind sections and staying in the front echelon at all times, before being led home to Cento by his team.
Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second overall and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in third did similarly before the GC battle starts again at the weekend with the 31km time trial tomorrow, and brutal mountain stage to Livigno on Sunday.
How it unfolded
The flattest stage of the 2024 Giro got the start that was expected with only three Italians on second-division teams interested in launching into the breakaway, knowing they had no chance of winning the 179km stage.
Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa), Manuele Tarozzi and Alessandro Tonelli (both VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) were the takers as the race headed away from the coastal start in Riccione, with flat roads in Emilia Romagna awaiting them.
They would quickly build up a three-minute advantage after nine kilometres until the sprint teams came to the front to gently control things. This was the status quo for around the next 115 kilometres of racing on the flat, piadina stage.
Groves and Milan would trade the top spot behind the break at the first two intermediate sprints in the maglia ciclamino contest.
The similar look of a Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal Quick-Step domestique riding on the front could have been on a loop throughout the middle stage, with a few scares of wind being present but nothing materialising.
This was until with 62km to go, when the race navigated a quick left and right turn past Conselice, Ineos Grenadiers decided to light up the racing in the crosswinds on the exposed, open roads.
Tobias Foss hit the front for the British team and ignited the stage into life after a very calm few hours of riding, forcing the GC and sprint teams to ensure they were up in the front.
A big split instantly formed as the wind blew across the road and the rare sight of echelons in the Giro d’Italia formed, catching out Maglia Ciclamino and one of the big favourites for the day, Milan.
With teams in front coming through and off and working with Ineos, Lidl-Trek set off on a furious chase in the wind with Milan even working a lot himself on the front, coming painfully close to making contact with 50km to go but missing out when the pace kicked up again.
The trio in front were quickly absorbed and soon after, Milan had been navigated back to the front group 43km from the line Cento, however, with quite some energy wasted in having to chase while the likes of Merlier and Ewan sat safely in front.
With everyone back in and the longest exposed windy roads behind them, the peloton got ready for the final sprint run-in.
A futile attack was tried by Dries De Pooter (Intermarché Wanty) and Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani) with 30km remaining in the day, but both men were back in the peloton inside the finale 10 kilometres. The chase behind their move did see a crash in the peloton for the likes of eighth-place overall Filippo Zana (Team Jayco AlUla), highlighting the nerves coming into the finish.
With just the sprint to come, the nerves hotted up most with 5k to go when narrowing in the roads prompted GC teams Ineos and UAE to hit the front so Pogačar and Thomas got around safely to the 3km mark.
Jayco AlUla hit the front with 2km to go but Caleb Ewan was nowhere to be seen in their train, with Lidl-Trek coming past them and asserting their dominance in the final few bends to get Milan into top position. The Bull of Buja enjoyed a red carpet ride to the final 200 metres when Gaviria launched and Milan scorched past him for the victory.
Results
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