On Wednesday afternoon in Tortona, Jonathan Milan extended his lead in the points competition as he narrowly missed out on a second stage win, beaten by a single centimetre by Pascal Ackermann (UAE) in a photo finish.
On the longest day of this year’s Giro d’Italia, the peloton kept the six-man breakaway’s gap to under 4’30”, as the predicted sprint finish became inevitable. It was a day that saw the top three on GC all crash: Geraint Thomas (IGD), Primoz Roglic (TJV), and Tao Geoghegan Hart (IGD). The latter had to leave the race in an ambulance but thankfully is ok. His DNF leaves the overall podium wide open, and Damiano Caruso move up to 5th.
After an extraordinary effort by road captain Caruso, who brought Jonny into the closing stages, Andrea Pasqualon led his countryman into contention. As the peloton entered the final 400 metres of 217km, at the exit of a sharp right-hand turn, Milan was 50 metres behind the front of the race, and all looked lost. But in what Italian commentators called “an absolutely crazy comeback”, ‘Jonny Power’ lived up to his new nickname, making up all that ground to pass his closest challenger in the points competition, Mads Pedersen (TFS), and British champion, sprinting legend Mark Cavendish (AST).
In the end, he couldn’t quite get past Ackermann, who won for the first time in nearly a year, but the Bahrain Friulano astonished the cycling world with his demonstration of raw strength that confirmed once again he is the man to beat in the bunch sprints at this first Grand Tour of 2023 … his results in the flat finishes so far read 1, 2, 2, 2. That consistency means he now leads the points classification by 36 points from Pedersen, with just two stages left where fifty are on offer to the winner.
Despite all these positives, The ‘Buja Bull’ was frustrated after the stage ended, reflecting,
“I could have won a second stage today … I was so close! Congratulations to Pascal, because that was a tough day, and he deserved the victory.
When I watched the sprint back a few times, I could see from the photo that it was the right decision, but obviously, I’m disappointed not to take another victory of this Giro.
Having said that, I think in the last few hundred metres, I showed I am one of the strongest sprinters here, and that gives me lots of confidence going forward.
There are two big stages left in this competition, and tomorrow will be my 11th day in this beautiful ciclamino jersey. It’s amazing, and I am super proud!”
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