Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won a second victory in the 2024 edition of the Tour of Italy (WorldTour) during the 11th stage on Wednesday in Francavilla al Mare. On Wednesday, during the eleventh stage of the Tour of Italy, Tim Merlier received a downgrade. The Soudal Quick-Step rider was demoted by the commissioners after finishing second on the line in the sprint at Francavilla al Mare, following only the Italian Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).
Visma-Lease a Bike, reduced to four members after Cian Uijtdebroeks abandoned them, sent two of its riders into the breakaway. So, along with the Frenchman Thomas Champion, the Dutchman Tim van Dijke, and the Italian Edoardo Affini, they departed.
The three men raced in the lead, but the peloton never gave them a very significant lead. Somewhat discouraged by the very aggressive attitude of the sprinters’ teams, the trio threw in the towel 35 kilometers from the end. After that, nobody wanted to interfere with the fast men’s plans.
In the last 10 kilometers, the Lidl-Trek of the Jonathan Milan cyclamen jersey took the lead with the Jayco-AlUla of Caleb Ewan, the Soudal Quick-Step of Merlier, as well as the INEOS Grenadiers and the Alpecin-Deceuninck.
Fabio Jakobsen and Tobias Lund Andresen of dsm-firmenich PostNL fell to the ground during the last straight. Merlier seemed to gain the upper hand, but Milan emerged in the final meters to take the 10th victory of his career, the 5th this season. The fourth stage had already been won by the leader of the points classification. He also finished second twice.
On Thursday, the 12th stage will be that of the walls, with many short and nervous climbs. Classics specialists will be in the spotlight on the 193 kilometers from Martinsicuro to Fano, with the climb of Monte Giove (2.6 km at 5%) changing to 20% less than 10 kilometers from the end.
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