Italy dominates in the Giro! Jonathan Milan clinches stage victory, Ganna makes his mark with a stunning breakaway

Jonathan Milan claimed victory in the fourth stage of the Tour of Italy. The Lidl-Trek rider was the strongest in a bunch sprint, which was just as thrilling as Monday's. The stage was eventful, with several riders forced to chase and Biniam Girmay exiting the race after two crashes. Tadej Pogacar retains his pink leader's jersey.

After Monday's tumultuous stage, the riders faced a similar challenge on Tuesday, with another tricky finale. The stage started just after noon in Acqui Terme, a historic spa town located between Turin and Genoa. The first 75 kilometers were mostly flat. During this section, a breakaway formed with initially four riders: Stefan De Bod (EF Education-EasyPost), Francisco Munoz (Polti-Kometa), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), and none other than Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers). However, Ganna dropped back to the peloton after half an hour.

Sprinters duel, Jakobsen struggles on climbs

The remaining three riders eventually built up a maximum lead of five minutes. In the peloton, the teams of Olav Kooij, Jonathan Milan, and Tim Merlier closely monitored the gap. Merlier outpaced Girmay in an intermediate sprint, thus increasing his lead over Milan in the points classification: Merlier now had 67 points, with his Italian rival at 63. Shortly thereafter, the climb of the Colle del Belogno began. Here, Calmejane earned nine mountain points, positioning the Frenchman to wear the blue jersey as the second-ranked rider in the mountains classification on Wednesday.

On the Belogno, Visma | Lease a Bike decided it was time to shake things up, at the expense of Fabio Jakobsen. The sprinter from the Netherlands struggled yesterday and had to let go three kilometers before the summit. Tim Merlier and Fernando Gaviria also faced difficulties, though they managed to return without issues. Jakobsen, thanks to his close friend Julius van den Berg, rejoined after chasing for over half an hour. Calmejane saw his mission accomplished and allowed himself to be caught by the peloton.

Girmay crashes twice and is forced to withdraw, chaos at the intermediate sprint requires Martinez and Merlier to chase

During the descent, a crash startled us, involving Matteo Trentin, Ben O'Connor, and Girmay among others. The first two resumed without much trouble, but Girmay took longer to get up. The Eritrean grimaced, stretched a bit, and got back on his bike. Shortly after, he crashed again, and this time it proved too much. Under the watchful eye of team director Aike Visbeek, Girmay had to withdraw.

As the Giro pressed on, the approach to the bonus sprint added an intriguing twist. Cian Uijtdebroeks snagged a second of time gain, causing the peloton to stretch into a single line around a bend. Visma | Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek increased the pace, resulting in a split. This forced Jakobsen, Merlier, and Dani Martinez, third in the general classification, into a chasing position. The sudden acceleration reignited the competition in the Giro. Roughly 35 kilometers from the finish, the dropped riders managed to reintegrate into the peloton, narrowly escaping greater trouble.

Ganna attacks on Capo Mele, Milan takes advantage of chaos in sprint

Meanwhile, the peloton steadily ate into the lead of the remaining duo up front. With fifteen kilometers to go, the gap had shrunk to just thirty seconds. The final challenge was the Capo Mele, setting the stage for a fierce battle for position. The wide, busy coastal roads were quickly devoured as the final phase approached rapidly. All sprinters were still in the mix, and it was unclear who would manage to survive the climb. The peloton stayed tightly packed as they smoothly navigated the winding coastal roads.

Just before the climb, nearly every sprinter’s team contributed to the effort. Notably, Lidl-Trek and Visma | Lease a Bike kept their trains well-positioned. De Bod and Munoz felt the lactic acid surge through their legs as they began the climb and were quickly spent. On Capo Mele, Ganna made another attempt. The Italian powered through with huge pedal strokes and created a gap of about eighty meters. This was bad news for the sprinters who were already on tired legs.

Ganna reached the top with a six-second lead and tried to push on. Lidl-Trek lead the pursuit but didn’t close the gap quickly. The tall Italian from INEOS continued to hammer down on the descent, but soon the pack was back in sight. At 700 meters, Ganna was caught. The organization among most sprinter teams had broken down, and the sprint was chaotic. Only Lidl-Trek remained well-organized, positioning their sprinter perfectly at the front. In the final 200 meters, Milan took the lead and, with powerful strokes, managed to hold this position to the line. Kaden Groves finished second, with Phil Bauhaus in third.

Results of stage 4 Giro d'Italia 2024

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