Milan impressively sprints to victory in Tirreno-Adriatico, Zijlaard finishes second

After the traditional opening time trial, day two of the Tirreno-Adriatico features another stage that the race fans will be familiar with. A sprint is planned in Follonica. At the start, Milan, Kooij, and Magnier are expected to have an exciting duel, all three of whom indicated beforehand that they were going for the victory. But fast men like Dylan Groenewegen, Sam Bennett, and Pascal Ackermann also hope for a top result today.

These fast men saw one rider immediately take off. The Italian Manuele Tarozzi managed to break away from the peloton on behalf of VF Group Bardiani in the first uphill kilometers but soon saw little enthusiasm for the traditional early breakaway. The peloton, which started the second stage of the Italian WorldTour stage race at a leisurely pace, allowed the Italian to build up a lead of over five minutes.

The lead of the lone frontrunner gradually decreased. Visma | Lease a Bike, and Lidl-Trek controlled the peloton and increasingly showed themselves at the front, but this was not reflected in the pace. The time trial on Monday had taken its toll because the first 80 kilometers were covered at an average of just under 37 kilometers per hour: a real leisurely stage.

With 90 kilometers to go, the leader's lead had shrunk to just under two minutes. Not much later, with 80 kilometers to go to the finish line and the intermediate sprint – where Juan Ayuso was competing for bonus seconds – the gap with the leader was only one minute. This was enough for two Team Polti VisitMalta riders to launch a counterattack.

The two riders caught up with Tarozzi and snatched the mountain points from the Italian on the day's only climb. With 40 kilometers to go, the peloton had the leaders in sight, but a crash in the feeding zone occurred before the leaders were caught. The worst victim was David Gaudu, who had to abandon the race not much later.

In the last 25 kilometers of the race, not much happened until ten kilometers from the finish. Out of nowhere, several riders in the back of the peloton crashed, including Groenewegen. He managed to catch up with the pack, which had four kilometers to go. In the final kilometer, Milan was excellently led out by his teammates, after which he easily sprinted to victory.