Jonathan Milan sprints to victory after crash with just over 3km to go causes chaos at the Giro d'Italia
Cycling
Jonathan Milan takes victory on the second stage of the Giro d'Italia from a much-reduced bunch sprint after a big crash with just over 3kms to go had caused chaos.
After Remco Evenepoel put on a blasting time-trial performance in the opening stage, stage 2 was expected to allow the GC riders to recollect themselves. A day expected to be for the sprinters, a five-rider group including Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën Team), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Mattia Bais (EOLO-Kometa), Alessandro Verre (Team Arkéa Samsic) and Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec - Selle Italia).
As the breakaway began the day's first categorised climb, the young Italian Verre looked determined to claim the points for himself. Perhaps he showed his inexperience, however, he made his move too early and could not successfully hold the rest of the riders off with Lapeira taking the maximum points.
With his spirit seemingly broken after not taking the King of the Mountains points, Verre dropped back and soon after was back in the peloton.
Lapeira continued his dominance of the breakaway on the classified climbs and guaranteed that the King of the Mountains jersey will be on his shoulders tomorrow.
With just under 39km to the remaining breakaway riders were swallowed up by the peloton meaning a first bunch sprint of the 2023 Giro d'Italia now seemed inevitable.
Trek - Segafredo for Mads Pedersen and Team Jayco AlUla for Michael Matthews were among the teams battling it out for the front of the peloton as the different sprint trains began to try and position their fast men.
Sadly for many including Mark Cavendish a big group of riders was taken out in a crash as the road narrowed with just under 4km to go.
Of course with the crash coming just a few hundred metres prior to the 3km to go marker, time gaps were going to be happening for anyone stuck behind the crash.
With a much-reduced bunch now battling it out for the stage win, it was Fernando Gaviria who led the sprint out. Jonathan Milan however came around and took a brilliant victory.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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🥇 @MilanJonathan_ victorious stage 2 @giroditalia He took his first WT win in his first Giro! #RideAsOne #Giro
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