Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek delivered a thundering long-range sprint to take the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia in the Ligurian coastal town of Andora. Last year’s points champion of the Giro surged ahead of Tim Merlier of Soudal Quick Step, yesterday’s winner, and held off Kaden Groves of Alpecin and Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain in a powerful straight-line effort where he got dropped off in the front of the race and nobody could come by.

The sprint almost got scooped by Filippo Ganna of INEOS who tried to conjure up his long-held Milano-Sanremo dreams, coming over the Capo Mele with a few seconds’ gap in a mad dash for the line. But Lidl-Trek got on the front of the descending peloton and kept the gap in hand for the sprint to materialize in the end. From there, they delivered their man with precision and the former track star did the rest.

Milan now leads Merlier by 32 points for the maglia ciclamina. No changes in any other competitions.

Results:

1. MILAN Jonathan, Lidl – Trek, 4:16:03
2. GROVES Kaden, Alpecin – Deceuninck
3. BAUHAUS Phil, Bahrain – Victorious
4. KOOIJ Olav, Team Visma | Lease a Bike
5. MERLIER Tim, Soudal Quick-Step

Points

1. MILAN Jonathan, Lidl – Trek, 113 points
2. MERLIER Tim, Soudal Quick-Step, 81
3. GROVES Kaden, Alpecin – Deceuninck, 63

Acqui Terme – Andora 198 km

Act 3 of “get over the hump and you get to sprint for the win”

Estimated finish time: 17:00-17:30 CEST

Piccolo Primavera of the Day: Jonathan Milan

Merlier looked great yesterday but still think Lidl and Milan could power away with a win if things are a little more “normal”.

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