"Fortunately, the finish line arrived faster than Philipsen" - Jonathan Milan powers to an impressive sprint victory at the Renewi Tour

Once again, Jonathan Milan did what he knows best and launched an extremely long, but any less powerful, sprint to win the opening stage at the Renewi Tour. Looking forward to the coming stages, the bonification seconds will come more than handy in Milan's quest for the overall victory. The next step will be tomorrow's 15-kilometer time trial.

After a warm day, the stage with finish in Bilzen turned into a tough sprint, the Italian explained: "It was really tough and the final was very tricky," the Lidl-Trek sprinter shared his thoughts of the run-in to the line after the stage.

"It was hard to stay together and the sprint was also different than usual. It was a bit uphill," Milan reflects. "I don’t know how far from the finish I started sprinting, but it was very hard and I was tired. But I’m also very happy to start the Renewi Tour like this, in a good way. Now I want to go for a good time trial tomorrow."

Lidl-Trek did a great job to keep the Italian sprinter up the front through all the dangers, but at the end of the day, it was Alpecin's Mathieu van der Poel who launched Milan (along with Jasper Philipsen). "I was well positioned myself, also because the final was tricky. It was constantly up and down, but I came out well and was able to ride my best sprint. I don't know how close Philipsen came, but I did see a shadow appear. Fortunately, the finish line arrived faster than him," Milan laughed.