Milan fumes over chaotic Naples finale: ‘I really don’t get it’

The city of Naples has often seen some chaotic moments, and while it often hosts finishes designed for the sprinters, the city's streets can throw plenty of curveballs that deny the sprinters the opportunity to battle it out for victory, as was the case on Thursday afternoon.

One of the many riders who were wiped out of contention on the final U-turn was Jonathan Milan. 

Fortunately, the Italian managed to stay upright, but his chances of fighting for victory were slashed, as Davide Ballerini navigated the chaos for his first Giro stage win.

Speaking after the finish, the Italian was naturally disappointed and expressed his frustrations with the design of the stage finish. 

“Luckily, I didn’t crash, I was able to stand on my bike, but they fully completely crashed in front of me,” Milan told TNT Sports. “I mean, it's not their fault. 
We knew that he could be super slippery if it rained on these kinds of cobbles.”

“Yeah, I really don't get why we have to try to find these complicated finishes. I really don’t get it,” added Milan. 

Thursday’s visit to Naples for stage 6 marked the fifth consecutive edition in which Naples has hosted a finish. 

With cobblestones in the finale and renowned for tricky road furniture, the threat of rain was always a possibility in the eyes of Milan, and he believes that measures could have been taken to protect the riders with a 90-degree corner and a U-turn in the cobbled finale.

“For sure, we could think that it would rain and that it could be safe like some years ago when we could go just straight, but no, with two drops of water we get a huge mess. I’m just a bit disappointed because I was in a good position, and I’m in good shape and feeling good,” expressed Milan.

“But yeah, we have to try and look for these things for a bit of hype maybe sometimes. I really don’t get it,” added the Italian.

Ultimately, Milan has been one of the most prolific sprinters in recent seasons and has won four Giro stages in total. After being denied on stages 1 and 3 by Paul Magnier, not even being able to actually sprint in Naples was another blow as Milan described. 

“It’s just painful. It’s even more painful to see riders crashing in front of you,” concluded Milan.

Milan will look to reassess, currently sitting 66 points behind Magnier in the points classification, as he looks to win his third maglia ciclamino, but also land his first stage win of this year's Giro. He will likely have to wait until week 2, with the next couple of stages for the GC contenders to get stuck into.