"A good race for us but not what we came for" - Marc Hirschi overcomes bloody nose to finish 3rd at Milano - Torino

Despite battling a very bloody nose, UAE Team Emirates' Marc Hirschi won the sprint from a reduced bunch to take a solid third at Milano - Torino 2024 on Wednesday afternoon.

"My nose just started bleeding before the second to last climb," the Swiss national champion explains in a post-race interview with Eurosport. "Because we were going full-gas I had no time to cover it or something. It was running blood but there was nothing else."

With Alberto Bettiol just about managing to hold off the chase and take the win, UAE Team Emirates took second through Jan Christen, third through Hirschi and fourth with Diego Ulissi. "Bettiol was super strong," Hirschi admits. "Maybe I could have gone but there was BORA - hansgrohe so it was better to stay on their wheel but unfortunately they couldn't close it."

"2nd, 3rd and 4th is a good race for us but not what we came for," he continues. "When I saw that BORA were so strong with 5 guys in the group... It was very, very strong from Bettiol to finish it off. Bob Jungels pulled full gas so it was super impressive that he finished it off. We came very close but just couldn't close it so yeah, he deserved to win today."