photo credits @ Tirreno-Adriatico
Juan Ayuso secured overall victory in the weeklong Tirreno-Adriatico race on Sunday, with Jonathan Milan winning the bunch sprint to take the final stage of “The Race of the Two Seas.”
Ayuso had taken the lead from Filippo Ganna on Saturday, with a superb solo attack to triumph atop the hardest mountain stage of the race, and he finished safely in the peloton in San Benedetto del Tronto to get his hands on one of cycling’s most distinctive trophies – after finishing runner-up last year.
Ganna, who had slipped to third the previous day, managed to move up to second after picking up an intermediate time bonus. The Italian ended the race 35 seconds behind Ayuso and just one second ahead of compatriot Antonio Tiberi.
Meanwhile, Paul Magnier crashed just behind them, while fighting for position, bringing down a number of other riders.
It was Milan’s second stage win in this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, matching last year’s tally, where he also won the final stage.
The 147-kilometer stage (91-mile) started in Porto Potenza Picena and included two climbs before finishing with five laps of a flat, 15-kilometer circuit along the seafront.
Earlier, with five laps of a fast finishing circuit scheduled, the peloton eased into the first half of the final stage, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) opening up a small gap to the peloton at one point, but the bunch regrouped over the climb of Ripanstransone.
Two uneventful laps in San Benedetto del Tronto followed before a bonus-second sprint spiced up proceedings, with Ganna darting out of the pack to take all three seconds – a small sum, but a significant amount, as it saw him leapfrog Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) in the overall standings, and reclaim second place.
Save for a short-lived attack by Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), no breakaway dared to wriggle free ahead of the flat finale.
The speed at the front of the race nudged over 60km/h into the final few kilometers, before a sequence of right-hand bends took the sting out of the bunch. Jayco AlUla tried to lead under the flamme rouge for Dylan Groenewegen, but once again it was Lidl-Trek who took up the charge, towing Milan to the line.
Ganna, known for his 2,000-watt max power, was the first to launch his sprint, doing so with 200m to go. But, with his tongue wagging in his mouth, Milan kicked on to claim his second stage win of this year’s edition.
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