Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) continued to show his multitude of talents at Tirreno-Adriatico, with a close second behind Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) in Gualdo Tadino after finishing third in the opening time trial and ninth at the high-speed sprint on stage 2.
The 23-year-old Italian is a successful track pursuiter, a power sprinter and time trialist, with many in Italy considering him the heir apparent to Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and even a future Hour Record holder.
He and Ganna are the anchors and the driving force of the Italian team pursuit that won a gold medal during the Tokyo Games and will defend their crown at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Milan debuted for Lidl-Trek this year and is looking to build on his sprint win, four-second places and points jersey at the 2023 Giro d’Italia. He has already won a stage at the early-season Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and has arguably the best Italian rider in the peloton so far in 2024.
He will become part of Lidl-Trek’s Classics squad for Milan-San Remo, Gent-Wevlegem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.
Mads Pedersen remains Lidl-Trek’s logical leader for Milan-San Remo but Milan gives the American WorldTour team an extra sprint option, alongside the Dane, 2021 Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Stuyven and on form Toms Skujinš.
“We have a strong team for every race option,” Milan said modestly after pulling on the cyclamino points jersey at Tirreno-Adriatico as a reward for his consistency.
He remains a name to remember if the expected attacks on the Poggio are for some reason neutralised and the sprinters take charge.
“I like to take things day by day, so I’m looking at finishing Tirreno-Adriatico first and then I’ll think about Milan-San Remo,” he said trying to play down any expectations for La Classicissiama on Saturday, March 16.
“I’ll have some super strong teammates for Milan-San Remo like Mads, Jasper and others. We’ll have a great team and Mads is going really well. I just want to play my part.”
Milan suffered on the gradual climb up the Gualdo Tadino finish line, gurning faces of pain as he fought for position at the head of the peloton.
He just avoided the late crash when Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) touched wheels and went down but could not get past Bauhaus on the rising sprint to the finish line.
“We knew that these early stages of Tirreno-Adriatico could be good for me,” Milan explained to Cyclingnews and La Gazzetta dello Sport post-stage.
“I started with a pretty good time trial, showing that I felt good. Today I was just missing that half a metre that made the difference and would have given me the chance to perhaps win. Though of course, it is easy to say afterwards.
“I’m happy with my ride, how the team rode and with my form. It was a complex finish, there were wet corners on a bridge and there was a crash too. I saw three Bahrain Victorious riders up there in the final kilometre. I rode well but perhaps not as well as I could have. I have to be happy with second. We always want more but I showed I have good condition.”
Milan’s multi-talents gives him a huge dilemma for the summer of 2024, after riding the Giro d’Italia with Lidl-Trek.
He wants to win a second gold medal in the team pursuit on the track but Italian national coach Daniele Bennati would love to have him in the three-rider Italian team for the road race around the cobbled streets of Montmartre and central Paris.
Ganna will target the time trial in Paris before switching to the velodrome. The only obstacle for Milan is the Olympic calendar.
“The big problem is that the road race is the day before the track, so it’ll be very hard to do both,” Milan said with an air of despair.
“I’d love to do both the road race and the team pursuit and do them well. The problem is the timing. We could end up doing both badly.”
