photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to victory in stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia in Andora today, bringing the curtains down on Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) who commenced a late attack that almost stuck.
Ganna launched at the foot of the Capo Mele with 4km to go, igniting a concerted chase effort that saw the Italian rider reeled in by Simone Consonni before the final sprint.
From there, Milan then launched his sprint when he was overtaken by Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike), leading out Olav Kooij But, the determined Lidl-Tek rider was able to renew his impetus and hold off a fast-charging Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Phil Bauhaus (BahrainVictorious) to seize the day’s honors.
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar avoided any drama to retain the leader’s maglia rosa.
Race Highlights
The day’s breakaway of four riders quickly formed after Ganna bridged over to Francisco Munoz (Team Polti Kometa), Stefan De Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lilian Calmejane (Intermarche-Wanty).
Ganna’s presence in the move ensured the peloton gave the quartet a short shrift, resulting in the Italian sitting up after the gap failed to grow beyond the one-minute mark. But, the remaining trio later managed to stretch its lead to well over five minutes.
A big crash on a slippery corner of the descent later saw a dozen riders hit the deck, including Girmay. Despite a nasty gash to his right hip, Girmay remounted – only to crash again just minutes later.
Moments before Girmay withdrew, his teammate Calmejane sat up from the break to leave just Munoz and De Bod out ahead with a gap of two minutes on the pack. The duo pressed on up the Ligurian coast as the sun finally broke through the clouds.
The peloton eventually closed in on its prey as they rampaged towards the Capo Mele. It was there that Ganna powered clear just as De Bod and Munoz were reined in.
Ganna held off several attempts from riders to bridge over but he eventually ran out of road at the bottom of the descent – paving the way for the sprinters to jostle into position.
From there, Tim Merlier looked to be closing in on Milan but the Belgian ran out of gas and slumped to fifth place to concede the win and the ciclamino jersey to his Italian rival.
In the meantime, Pogacar finished safely in the pack to retain his 46-second lead over Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in the general classification, while Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgroge) punctured in the closing moments but was awarded the same time and stayed in third place.
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