Jonathan Milan is still waiting for his first Tour de France stage win. After a disappointing day in Lille where echelons got the better out of the Lidl-Trek speedster, the stage to Boulogne-sur-Mer turned out too difficult for the heavyweight sprinter.
At least he got to test his legs at an intermediate sprint today. And there was clearly a bit of tension between the Italian and white jersey Biniam Girmay. "Nothing special, just a racing incident, he went a bit wide, I got nervous," Milan explains what happened to Tuttobici.
"But we cleared things up right away and we shook hands here after the finish line too, because there is mutual respect and esteem between us and these moments happen where there is a bit of nervousness in the group."
Phone to face
As if that wasn't enough, shortly after the intermediate sprint, Milan bumped into the arm of a person who had leaned out too far, to film the passage of the race with their cell phone. "The passage was very narrow. I took a phone in my face, I think the girl lost her phone because I took a good slap in the face."
Milan doesn't have a thing to say about having huge crowds at the roadside, but he urges fans to be more careful when peloton passes by. "Seeing so many people on the roads is wonderful, but the fans must stay in the safety zone, well on the side of the road and be very careful with cell phones which can really be very dangerous."
In any case, the second stage was not something for the big sprinter who already eyes the merciful stage 3 with only one cat 4 mountain sprint and otherwise entirely flat course with finish on the coast in Dunkerque. A perfect day for sprinters, unless wind strikes again.
"Tomorrow we will try again because it will be a stage for sprinters," Milan confirms. "Today was a very tough stage and tomorrow there will be a stage more suited to me and I will try to win it."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I'm not trying to argue with you but if you didn't see Del Toro struggling in the Tour I'll pay for some glasses for you lol. He struggled so much that Tadej missed winning stage 15, Tadej also dropped the pace along some stages to help Del Toro hold onto the podium. Now he may have been sick, that is a possibility, but he definitely struggled. You have a nice weekend as well brother.awp13-11-2026
- Im not copmaring him to jonas palmares...but current level of power and again like you even pointed out 19sec difference and on other ocassions del toro dropping him. Its evidently their close and based on both their different trajectory its self explanatory...where we are next year.And Del Toro didnt struggle if getting a podium in his first TDF at 22 year old is struggling you sure dont know how to be objective haha. But have a good weekend this is so dumb to discuss as its not even a discussin in reality as facts speak for themselves of what were actually speaking of - and self explanatory.miguel13-11-2026
- fingers crossed. my son has a poster of wout and mathieu battling each other at the beach at ostend up in his room. would be great to see them again there!Ketterechts13-11-2026
- This Giro is very strange in it's circular route. If you were to have stage starting in Trieste and ending atop Monte Zoncolan (end stage 20) you'd get a stage only 145 km long
Rafionain-Glas13-11-2026 - When Thomas gets the bullet from INEOS he can get a job as a comedian.
Senna196013-11-2026 - Right on. The more the merrier.Occam13-11-2026
- Remember, Del Toro struggled in this Tour. He is great, no doubt about that, but comparing him to a four time gt winner is absurd at this point. He has the potential. We'll have to see how he develops.awp13-11-2026
- what did Jonas gift and to whom? just curious, haven’t heard about this.mij13-11-2026
- You don't gift grand tours as it has come to light that Jonas has come to regret doing such.
Front24213-11-2026 - Exactly you said it urslf - he outclimbed del toro by 19 sec. 19SEC and you say hes alot better than del toro still lol? And can also do the same where del toro did that to jonas even and del toro dauphine numbers better than jonas all year so why this hard whats the issue its super easy stuff - del toro wasnt that before. Then factor in both their trajectory the last years and the answer is self explonatory like i said. Nothing against jonas like many do but the typing is no the wall and so stupidly easy as its so self explanatory now. Have a good daymiguel13-11-2026
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