Milan wins Tour stage 17 in wet sprint finish

Wet sprint finish on stage 17 gave Jonathan Milan his second victory of the Tour de France this year.

On the 160. 4 km stage between Bollene and Valence, a bunch sprint was planned, but with 4 km to go, the peloton spotted the final rider from a breakaway with a four-man breakaway.

Milan’s sprint rivals Tim Merlier and Biniam Girmay collided just before the 30-kilometer mark as it pouring down.

Jordi Meeus, 24, strengthened his hold on Milan, who was the points leader, after it turned out to be too strong.

The Lidl-Trek rider increased his lead by 61 points, giving him a 72-point advantage over Tadej Pogacar, the current champion.

“We still have some challenging days ahead of us, the climbs,” Milan said. We’ve had a lot of fun so far, though, and I’m really happy with how things are going.

We’ll continue to fight for the intermediate [sprints] and the stage’s final day, but we’ll see how it turns out. I’m more relaxed and less ambivalent than the points, but I’ll keep fighting.

As the Montmartre climb begins shortly before the finish line, which would have traditionally favoured the fast men, means that sprinters will have one last chance to win this year’s stage on Wednesday, which could be their last chance.

Milan already had his first Tour victory on stage eight, making his Tour debut after previously claiming the green jersey twice at the Giro d’Italia.

However, as Pogacar was closing in on him in the points race, Lidl-Trek lost on Tuesday because Milan was unable to enter the intermediate sprint.

This time, they ensured that Milan was leading the sprint peloton, scoring 11 points after the breakaway, and the team assisted him in recovering after he was dropped on the first of two categorised climbs.

The lead group was then reintroduced by the Lidl-Trek riders, who Jonas Abrahamsen attacked with 12km to go before being caught by the crowd with 4km to go.

Milan avoided the crash, but the wet weather caused him to race to the finish line, which pushed some of his rivals out of contention.

“I have to give them my heart’s desire, and I have to thank them,” Milan continued.

I was able to survive without my team-mates’ assistance. Without this, I wouldn’t be here. They put me in the ideal position for the finish [] .