photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) continued to stamp his authority on this year’s Giro d’Italia, after the Italian rider scored his third victory today, outsprinting Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) who started his sprint too early, blasting past him to strengthen his hold on the maglia ciclamino.
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, while a great sprint from Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) saw him take second behind Milan, with Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) taking third.
Meanwhile, 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.
Race Highlights
Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) instigated an attack from the gun that coaxed a reply from the VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane duo of Manuele Tarozzi and Alessandro Tonelli.
The trio’s gap quickly grew to over three minutes, while Filippo Ganna commenced an acceleration that saw the peloton split in two with 62km remaining.
The escapees were eventually reined with 40km to go, prompting an attack from Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) who was joined by Belgian debutant Dries De Pooter (Intermarche-Wanty) as the duo opened up a gap of 30 seconds.
However, the pair was reined with 10km to go, with Jayco AlUla hitting 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 Milan enjoyed a red carpet ride to the final 200 meters when Gaviria launched and the Italian scorched past him for the victory.
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