Jonathan Milan outsprinted Kaden Groves and Phil Bauhaus to win stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia in Andora.
The Italian fast man benefited from a huge lead out from Simone Consonni before he launched his jump for the line to take his fourth win of the season for Lidl-Trek.
Tim Merlier and Olav Kooij weren’t far off being in contention but couldn’t deal with the sheer power from Milan after he accelerated on the inside. In the end, only Groves and Bauhaus could come close to Milan but they were still some way off the Italian.
At one point it looked like another Italian was set to spoil the party for the sprinters. Filippo Ganna launched a huge attack on the Capo Mele, the final climb of the day, as the main field swept up the remnants of the day’s breakaway.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider looked like he might steal the show but faded as the sprint teams set up their final leadout trains and attempted to salvage the finish.
Visma-Lease a Bike attempted to set up Kooij for the win with a final effort from his teammate, Christophe Laporte. But once Trek went there would be no stopping them. Simone Consonni put in a huge turn on the front of the bunch before Milan went from range and firmly distanced the likes of Kooij and Merlier to grab the victory.
Speaking post-race, Milan paid tribute to the tireless work of his teammates to set him up in Andora.
"There are so many emotions now," he said. "We came here with one goal for everyone. The guys did an amazing job. It’s an amazing sensation to win here again at the Giro. I really have to say thanks for all of this to my teammates. They believed in this all day.
"We saw Ganna going full gas in the last climb. We caught him with 800 metres to go and he also helped us in a way, let’s say, then it was a fantastic leadout from Simone and I could then just play my card."
Race leader Tadej Pogačar finished safely in the main field to maintain his advantage at the top of the general classification ahead of Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas.
How it happened
The first part of the day saw the riders gradually ascend towards the Colle del Melogno before a long descent down towards the Ligurian coast roads typically used in Milan-San Remo.
A four man breakaway initially formed and Filippo Ganna was present in the move. The Italian soon dropped away leaving just Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Stefan De Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) and Francisco Muñoz of the Polti Kometa team.
Calmejane eventually dropped away on the Colle del Melogno as the rain started to fall. There were a series of small crashes on the descent down towards the coast. Several high profile riders came down including Ben O’Connor (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) and Bimian Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty.
Girmay looked to be in a lot of pain and discomfort after the first crash but somehow managed to ride on. However, barely a kilometre or two later Girmay crashed again and this time abandoned the race.
With 35 kilometres to go to the finish in Andora, the peloton were driving the pace in pursuit of the two remaining leaders, De Bod and Muñoz.
Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek were the main protagonists at the head of the main field as the race hurtled towards its conclusion. A brief split had formed in the bunch due to Visma’s searing pace making through the final sprint point of the day in Savona, but it largely came back together.
De Bod and Muñoz had just over a minute as the race ticked past 20 kilometres to go. The peloton were flying in the sunnier conditions on the coast and their lead was rapidly tumbling as the sprinters teams started to think about the expected bunch sprint.
With six kilometres to go it was almost all over as the Capo Mele approached. The lone leaders were swept up as Ineos Grenadiers joined the work on the front of the peloton as they aimed to keep Geraint Thomas safe and out of trouble as the finish approached.
As the peloton hit the climb Filippo Ganna launched a huge attack and quickly built a gap on the climb.
Ganna faded with 800 metres to go and was swept up by the Lidl-Trek lead out train. Once Simone Consonni peeled off for Trek, Jonathan Milan jumped for the line.
There would be no stopping the Italian as he firmly sealed the win. Kaden Groves took second for Alpecin-Deceuninck and Phil Bauhaus took third.
Results
Giro d'Italia 2024, stage four: Aqui Terme > Andora (190 km)
1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 04:16:03
2. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck,
3. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious,
4. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike,
5. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step,
6. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan,
7. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Movistar,
8. Enrico Zanoncello VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane,
9. Madis Mikhels (Est) Intermarche-Wanty
10. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti-Kometa, all at same time
General Classification after stage four
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 15:19:05
2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +46s
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +47s
4. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +55s
5. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +56s
6. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +1:07
7. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +1:11
8. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:13
9. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan, +1:26
10. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, at same time
