Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won a leg-breaking sprint in the saddle on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico after a 200km chase of the breakaway lasted until the final 100 metres.
Milan pipped Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to the line in the photo finish and broke the heart of the lone remnant of the day’s break, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) after the Norwegian made a final hit out for glory under the flamme rouge. Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) was third.
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) led out the sprint after it looked like Abrahamsen might just make it, but the sprinters who had survived a hilly day through the Apennines were waiting in the wings to pounce.
Philipsen hit the front but was just overhauled by Milan as the Italian stomped on his pedals and used his body to ensure Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) didn’t squeeze him, to go one better than his second place yesterday.
Milan moved into the overall leader’s blue jersey ahead of Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), thanks to his ten bonus seconds gained for the victory. He sits four seconds ahead of the Spanish rider heading into the two key GC days tomorrow and on Saturday.
“That was close, what a day,” said Milan after an exhausting stage. “I think I just have to say thanks to my teammates. They did such an amazing job. I didn’t have an easy day - I had a puncture on the climb and it was tough to come back in the peloton.
“The guys supported me in the best way that I could do it. They pushed until the final, they were incredible. This means a lot for me”
Milan had been getting closes day by day at Tirreno, with third place on the opening time trial and second in yesterday’s sprint. But he’s now iced an already successful week with a win, the leader’s jersey and an extension of his lead in the points jersey.
“This morning I wanted it so much, this victory and we did it all together. It’s not just my victory, it’s a team victory,” said Milan.
With the terrain not suiting him tomorrow, he’ll lose the blue jersey on stage 5 but will switch focus to working for Lidl-Trek GC leader Tao Geoghegan Hart.
The Brit will challenge the likes of Ayuso, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the tough route from Torricella Sicura to Valle Castellana, which features the hors-categorie San Giacomo (11.9 km at 6.2%) climb 25km from the finish.
How it unfolded
Stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico looked like the perfect day for a breakaway to challenge the peloton and just three kilometres into the 207km stage from Arrone to Giulianova, six men decided to form the day’s breakaway.
Making up the group were Lorenzo Quartucci (Corratec-Vini Fantini), Davide Bais (Polti-Kometa), Mirco Maestri (Polti-Kometa), Alexander Kamp (Tudor Pro Cycling), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Alex Tolio (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
They would take on the monstrous 17.2-kilometre-long Valico di Castelluccio climb, which has an average gradient of 5% and opened up the long stage through the Apennines.
Their gap would grow throughout the first few hours of racing on another cold day in the peloton, but it did ebb and flow as the road went up and down. It would go well north of five minutes but came down at points as the sprinter’s teams navigated the climbs and tried to peg them back.
It was no foregone conclusion on the fourth day of racing at the Race of the Two Seas, with the six me out in front not completely faltering on the run for home. They would maintain their gap throughout the mainly flat final 80km of the day.
While most sprinters were holding position well in the peloton on the climbs, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) started to struggle on the climbs and was getting onto his team radio. He would ultimately play no part in the final sprint after dropping in and out of the peloton throughout the day.
At the 30km to go point and approaching the Adriatic Sea for the first time this week, the gap for the leaders had dropped to just over one minute. This is where a split came in the break as Kamp, Abrahamsen and Maestri made their shot for glory.
They would hold their advantage of around 50 seconds as the race reached the finish location of Giulianova and started the circuit around the coastal town. In the trio’s favour was a downhill run to the line, but their advantage had fallen to 31 seconds with the catch looking likely.
Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Intermarché-Wanty swapped turns in the chase to try and reel back the trio and they had them in sight around the final few corners.
Kamp pulled the plug first once he knew it was over, but Abrahamsen didn’t give up and attacked away from Meistri under the 1km to go banner. He got a decent gap around the final corner and the peloton behind began to look at each other with most of the leadouts burned in the chase.
Pidcock held the front position and hesitated before launching his sprint in pursuit of the Uno-X Mobility rider, but with Girmay in his wheel and Philipsen and Milan ready to chase. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) was one of the top sprinters dropped in the run for home.
Philipsen's initial kick was strong as he hit the wind on the right-hand side of the road but Milan, despite sitting back in the saddle first, had enough seated power to round the Belgian and take his fourth WorldTour victory.
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