Giro d'Italia 2024, Jonathan Milan's imperious sprint!

Jonathan Milan exults in the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024. After narrowly missing out on victory in Fossano yesterday, the Lidl-Trek rider from Friuli was the fastest of all at the finish line in Andora today, taking the win in a powerful sprint after teammate Simone Consonni closed in on Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who spilled on the Capo Mele, just 500 meters from the finish. He had to settle for second place Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who failed to catch up with Milan in the final meters, while the podium was completed by Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious). There are no major changes in the general classification, which still sees Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in the Pink Jersey with a 46″ lead over Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and 47″ over Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe).

The Stage narrative

Under a threatening sky, it is immediately Francisco Muñoz (Team Polti-Kometa) who kicks off the first action of the day. Having gained a few meters, the Spaniard is imitated by Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) and Stefan De Bod (EF Education-EasyPost), who are not slow to catch him, beginning to compose what looms, from the start, as the breakaway of the day. However, Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) also emerges from the group, who in turn comes back under with a few pedal strokes, but at that point the group decides to react.

In particular, it is Soudal Quick-Step that goes into control, preventing the lead from exceeding 90 seconds. Taking the hint, with even Lidl – Trek starting to cooperate, the hour recordman recovers after just over 25 kilometers of racing, allowing the three remaining riders to gain ground. As soon as the pursuit world champion gets back up, in fact, from behind they realize they can manage the effort better and concede margin to the trio left in the lead.

The gap thus rises rapidly until it reaches a maximum of 5’30” after 70 kilometers of the race, with the outriders shortly afterwards passing by the flying finish line of Calizzano, conquered by Muñoz, and then approaching the first ramps of the only GPM of the day, the Colle del Melogno, with a lead of about five minutes at all times. Along the short climb, however, Visma | Lease a Bike increases the pace, sending first Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and then Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) into trouble as well.

The Colombian, however, managed to come back quickly after the GPM, where Calmejane had passed first, while it took almost 30 kilometers for the Dutchman to rejoin the peloton, helped by two teammates. Up front, however, Calmejane reeled in at -72 from the finish, just past the Intergiro di Altare sprint won by Muñoz, and in front there are then two left, with a margin of just over 3’30”, by the time the rain began to fall more persistently on the race.

The wet road and a downhill section thus become a danger to the peloton, where a crash occurs that sees several riders end up on the ground. These include, in addition to some EF Education-EasyPost men, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale), Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), the most sore along with Damien Touzé (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale). While the others restart rather quickly, the Eritrean and the transalpine remain a few more minutes stationary on the roadside before they too resume the race.

However, Girmay falls again shortly afterwards and this time the Eritrean does not restart, deciding to climb into the flagship and abandon the race. As a result of the fall and the descent, the peloton arrives broken in three sections at the flying finish in Savona, where Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike) goes to take a 1″ bonus passing third behind the two outriders who begin the long flat stretch along the Aurelia with a 2’20” lead over the first part of the peloton. These, however, regrouped fairly quickly, with even those lagging behind from the previous crash re-entering once they entered the final 50 kilometers.

Fortunately, the finish on the Ligurian Riviera brings sunshine to the race, and with Lidl-Trek back in front to pull, aided by a Visma | Lease a Bike man and a Soudal Quick-Step man, the peloton slowly begins to make up ground on the two attackers. Muñoz and De Bod, however, do not give up, still maintaining more than a minute’s lead at -20 from the finish, when the riders from Team Jayco AlUla and Team dsm-firmenich PostNL also arrive in the first positions, followed later also by those from Alpecin-Deceuninck.

As they approached Cape Mele, the pace of the peloton grew faster and faster, and the leading pair’s margin of seconds dropped more and more, until the two were caught with 4600 meters to go. A few hundred meters later the Capo Mele climb begins and immediately Ganna accelerates, who quickly manages to gain a few seconds of advantage despite the fact that behind him Tudor Pro Cycling is immediately organized. On the Verbanese, Danny Van Poppel (Bora-hansgrohe), Andrea Pasqualon (Bahrain Victorious) and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) try to bring back unsuccessfully, but all three are reabsorbed by the peloton.

Ganna reaches the top with a handful of seconds of margin on the group, where the Lidl-Trek riders are back in front, and he launches himself into the fast descent, but from behind they manage to catch up, and the action of the former time trial world champion runs out with 500 meters to go due to the great work of Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek). The latter pulls straight until the -300 meters, when Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) overtakes him to launch Olav Kooij; Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), however, slingshots in on the Dutchman’s wheel and then begins his devastating progression, which allows him to keep behind Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), who tries to get out but bounces back, Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), who finds no space along the barriers, and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who tries unsuccessfully to make a comeback and finishes second behind the Friulian.