"It was a very tough day" - Jonathan Milan takes sprint win on fastest ever Tirreno-Adriatico stage

Finishing way ahead of schedule, the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2024 was played out at a relentless pace. In the end, the fastest of everyone was Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan.

“This is a very special victory. It was a very tough day. The pace was high all day long. My teammates did a really impressive job," reflected the Italian, who courtesy of his second stage win at the race, also secured the Maglia Ciclamino ahead of Juan Ayuso. "It is fantastic to end this stage race like this.”

In the sprint for the line, Uno-X Mobility and Alexander Kristoff seemed to have the advantage but Milan powered ahead right at the last. “That was a strong attack. However, Simone Consonni did fantastic, his lead-out was impressive,” Milan assesses.

This was also the fastest stage ever recorded at Tirreno-Adriatico with an average speed of a staggering 47kmh. “There are several reasons for this. Initially we didn't want to let the flight get too far away, because there were a number of strong guys in that group. So we really had to pick up the pace. At the end the pace was of course very high with the bunch sprint that was coming,” Milan concludes.