Tim Merlier has sprinted to victory on stage 18 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia, taking his second win of the race in a thrilling finale to the day, taking his latest ever win at a Grand Tour.
Although on paper a stage for the sprinters, as always with such parcours coming so late in a Grand Tour, the breakaway hopefuls can always feel like they have a chance. Attempting to try their luck in such a move on this occasion, was a four-man group of Mikkel Honore (EF Education-EasyPost), Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè) plus Team Polti - Kometa duo, Mirco Maestri and Andrea Pietrobon.
Sadly for the attackers, the peloton were not in a giving mood. A trio of sprinter's teams sent a rider to the front to control things and under the watchful eye of Lidl-Trek (team of Jonathan Milan), Soudal - Quick-Step (team of Tim Merlier) and Tudor Pro Cycling Team (team of Alberto Dainese), the gap between the peloton and breakaway was kept under two minutes.
The problem for those teams was, with the time gap so small, they were encouraging more attacks from the peloton. It was one such attack, from Edoardo Affini with just under 60km to go, saw the leading quartet grow to a quintet. Despite the reinforcement of the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider, the writing was on the wall for the breakaway though and with the gap holding at under 20 seconds, you felt the catch could be completed at any moment.
With 15km to go though, the leaders were still dangling around 15 seconds ahead of the bunch and working well together to keep hold of their narrow advantage. Finally though, with just over 10 kilometres to go, the day was finally over for the attackers as the focus completely turned towards preparing for the bunch sprint finale. Just over 8km to go however, there was an untimely issue for Thymen Arensman. After a quick bike change however, the man who started the day 6th overall was able to get back to the safety of the peloton.
After the GC men were through the hallowed 3km banner without any further incident though, the sprint teams began to take full control. Heading into the final kilometre it was the Tudor Pro Cycling Team on the front. With Jonathan Milan somewhat blocked, Alberto Dainese opened the sprint but in a thrillingly close finale, both Dainese and a resurgent Milan were denied by Soudal - Quick-Step's Tim Merlier.
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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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- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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