Milan powers home to take second win of Giro with thrilling Stage 11 sprint victory

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) took his second win at the Giro d’Italia 2024, powering to victory after a thrilling sprint finish on Stage 11.

After a chaotic and stressful run-in to Francavilla Al Mare, the Italian once again proved the strongest on the 207km route from Foiano Di Valfortore.

An almost incident free finale saw no splits in the general classification, as Tadej Pogacar maintained his grip on the maglia rosa. A late dart for bonus sprint seconds saw Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) reduce the gap to second place Dani Martinez (Bora-Hangrohe) to 16 seconds.

The 207km, second longest stage of the Giro, saw the Giro chase a northerly path, down from the ankle of Italy and towards the Adriatic coast. The pan-flat seaside finish might have shouted sprint from all sides, but the course;s 1800m of accumulated climbing ought to have invited a concerted attempt at a breakaway snatch and grab. Especially considering 75% of the uphill would occur inside the first 60km.

As it was, when the flag was dropped at kilometre zero only one rider, Thomas Champion (Cofidis) emerged tentatively from the pack. Visma-Lease A Bike had lost their leader, Cian Uijtdebroeks overnight to illness, and so with some reluctance Eduardo Affini and Tim van Dijke headed out in low effort pursuit of the Frenchman.

The presence of three strong riders in the break might have been expected to inspire movements from elsewhere in the peloton, but there was no more interest. The shutters went down behind, and the trio was left to dangle for the next 170km of northerly travel. The lead never ballooned beyond a couple of minutes, but nor did it evaporate entirely as the peloton allowed them to dangle. It took the intermediate sprints which inspired some low intensity battles to clip off so much of the gap that there was no point in continuing.

As the peloton came round a corner with 30km to go, Champion, Affini and Van Dijke exchanged a few respectful words and drifted back to the bunch.

The final few kilometres to Francavilla Al Mare were, on paper, straight as an arrow and simple as can be. On Google Street View they were shown to be anything but, as complex road systems and awkward items of furniture threatened to throw an incendiary device into teams plans for the stage. After today there would be only two more opportunities for the fastmen and there were already several who looked like they might take a few risks in order to ensure they didn’t leave the race empty handed.

In the end the worst of such fears failed to materialise. Tadej Pogacar went the wrong side of a late roundabout, losing approximately 20 places in the process, but easily made his way back to the front of the race in time to again assist in team-mate Juan Sebastian Molano’s lead-out. Ineos Grenadiers made a concerted effort to keep Geraint Thomas out of trouble, in the process saving the sprint teams legs for the finale.

Under the 3km banner and the usual suspects Alpecin-Deceuninck, Soudal-Quickstep were in complete control. Less usual was the presence of Grouama-FDJ, working for Laurence Pithie.

The climax to the stage was initiated 500m from the line. An overlap of wheels four of five riders down a concentrated pack sent an Intermarche-Wanty rider to the deck and it was a miracle that more riders than four weren’t taken down, as he skittled across the road into the path of Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-Firmenich). Jenthe Biermans (Arkea-B&B Hotels_ with nowhere to go but over the top and tumble down.

Bert Van Lerberghe (Alpecin-Deceuninck) pushed on for Tim Merlier, with Groves on his wheel and Milan next in line. Molano began his sprint early down the right, and was legitimately aggrieved by Merlier swinging across into his path, as the Belgian launched his own. Milan drifted in the same direction, but largely powered on to the line, maintained his speed as Merlier faded.

Merlier was subsequently relegated to last place in the group for his deviation, awarded 89th place on the stage.

That meant Kaden Groves was bumped up to 2nd, while Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti Kometa) achieved a career best 3rd place. Laurence Pithie, making his Grand Tour debut, was promoted to a race-high 4th.

Aftewards Milan was eager to share the victory with his Lidl-Trek colleagues, crediting the efforts and their contribution to his second victory so far:

“All the work that the guys did, my team did for me, supporting me to the crucial position, makes me happy. A real team as we are. They are always believing in me and I have to say thanks from the bottom of my heart.”