Jonathan Milan wins the miniature version of Milan-Sanremo in the Giro after a spectacular finale

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) has given the Italians a first stage victory in the Tour of Italy. The giant sprinter was the fastest after a fascinating final over the Capo Mele, one of the snacks from Milan-Sanremo. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) tried to give the sprinters a pear, but was caught. Milan was faster than Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step) was too far and had to launch his sprint too early. He came 5th.

• Winner of the day: From 2 to 1. Yesterday Jonathan Milan narrowly missed out on the first sprinter’s chance of this Giro, but today he is working his way to victory. The Italian digested the Capo Mele well and finished it in the sprint after a perfect lead-out.

• Loser of the day: After his encouraging 3rd place yesterday, Biniam Girmay seemed to be growing back to his best level. However, a double fall in a short time in a wet descent forced the Eritrean to give up the next day.

• Attacker of the day: Filippo Ganna attacked at the very beginning and again at the end of the stage. He quickly realized that the early flight would not amount to anything and dropped back to the peloton. Save your strength and almost succeed. His outburst from the foot of the Capo Mele failed to materialize.

• Tomorrow: No treacherous kink that could hinder the fast men. With more than 20 flatter kilometers after a 4th category mountain, we expect a real test of strength between the sprint trains in Lucca.

A man with a plan. Filippo Ganna clearly had his sights set on this one bellhop Milan-Sanremo.

First he slipped into the early breakaway, which of course barely had any room to maneuver with his imposing presence. Back to the peloton to save strength for the coming days. Or for later today?

After that it became a stage in the theme ‘the art of waiting’ for a long time, as we are used to in La Primavera.

The treacherous long descent towards the coastline was also present here and made Biniam Girmay a major casualty.

He stood still the longest after a major crash, including O’Connor, and seemed to give up, but jumped back on the bike cramped.

Only to be pushed back a second time later: end of story for Girmay this Giro.

With the exception of Girmay, all the fast men were present for the second sprinter’s chance. Or would someone still throw a spanner in their works in this miniature version of Milan-San Remo?

Poggio on duty today was the Capo Mele. And that seemed to Ganna to be an ideal springboard for his second attack of the day. He continued from the foot, with an immediate gap lead.

Ganna just couldn’t manage much more than 5 seconds. In the short descent towards the finish, the sprinter teams were constantly in sight of him and under the rag his second attempt was also over.

Lidl-Trek quickly created order out of the chaos and launched sprint executioner Jonathan Milan excellently. Tim Merlier launched from a little too far and had to sit down.

It was Kaden Groves who would come closest to threatening Milan, although the Italian still had more than half a bicycle lead after an impressive sprint.

For the second year in a row, Milan wins a stage early in the Giro. He also takes over the purple points jersey from Merlier. Will he hold it until Rome again this year?

The fast man from Alpecin-Deceuninck, Kaden Grovesended up in 2nd place after the unapproachable Milan.

“It’s a bittersweet end to the journey for me, but another step in the right direction,” the Australian still looks on the positive side.

“Milan is here with a very strong and experienced team. But my teammates also did very well today. We had a plan and we executed it as best as possible on this treacherous run-in.”

Edward Theuns was in the winning camp of Lidl-Trek today. “Johnny really deserves this. He may have been the stronger one yesterday. He is young and really wants to win, but lost a little too much energy in the last kilometers,” thinks Theuns.

“Today we did our lead-out a little better. Jasper (Stuyven, ed.) and I know each other very well. We only need one look to know what’s going on.”

“I started my turn a little earlier because I didn’t want to take any risks with Ganna. Ultimately, we can still count on a super strong Johnny.”

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