'We knew it would be hard': Jonathan Milan's drought continues at Giro

When it comes to sprinters, Lidl-Trek sports director Bernhard Eisel is well versed in reading the room in both victory and defeat. When Jonathan Milan arrived at the bus after stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia, the Austrian understood that the immediate debrief could be distilled to a pat on the shoulder and a sympathetic smile.

Milan is still without a win on this Giro after a false start on the opening days in Bulgaria, and the thought of this stage from Imperia to Novi Ligure would have sustained through the week since his crash in the finale in Naples.

The rugged terrain in the final 70km, however, meant that a bunch finish was not guaranteed. The climb of Bric Berton served as a substitute for the Passo del Turchino at Milan-Sanremo early in the 20th century, but here it was in a position to do some real damage to the sprinters, coming just 50km from the finish.

Dylan Groenewegen (Rose Rockets) and maglia ciclamino Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) were distanced early on the ascent as Movistar set a fierce pace on behalf of Orluis Aular (Movistar).

Milan clung on gamely until a kilometre or so from the summit, but he, too, was inevitably distanced. That didn’t mean he relented. Milan’s approach here was to shut his eyes and see: he pressed on as best he could and gave fierce chase over the other side, joining forces with teammate Matteo Sobrero and Magnier in a bid to latch back on. 

The pace out in front, however, never really relented, and 15km or so from the finish, Milan and Magnier had to resign themselves to the inevitable. Nothing to be done. They rolled home seven minutes down on stage winner Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious).

As Milan’s bike and turbo trainer were being prepared for his warm-down after the stage, a young fan stepped forward in the hope of a securing a photograph with the green jersey of last year’s Tour de France.

Despite his disappointment, Milan summoned a smile for the picture, and as he warmed down a stone's throw from Fausto Coppi's villa outside Novi Ligure, he talked reporters through his afternoon, starting with his on-the-hoof alliance with Magnier after Bric Berton.

“We weren’t able to say too much, but we had a good collaboration,” Milan said. “We tried to get back on, we gave regular turns and did what we could. We got to within 50 seconds of the first group, I think, but then the gap went out again and we weren’t able to get back on.”

Milan showcased his condition by outlasting Magnier, nominally a better climber, on Bric Berton, but the combination of the speed and the gradient would doom him to another disappointing afternoon.

“I don’t know how far we were from the top, but I tried not to get dropped too fast,” Milan said. “Then over the top, Sobrero gave me a really big hand. We tried our best to come back, and also did a pretty fast descent, but we just couldn’t close it. We sat up with 15 or 10km to go.”

Milan arrived at this Giro looking to continue a remarkable sequence that has seen him win at least one and the final points classification in each of his Grand Tour appearances to date. He won the maglia ciclamino at the Giro in 2023 and 2024 before claiming the green jersey on his Tour de France debut last summer. 

He has yet to get off the mark at this Giro, however, and his hopes of the maglia ciclamino are essentially over, given that he trails Magnier by 54 points with just two likely bunch sprints to come, in Milan and Rome.

“Today we knew it would be hard with the last climb, we knew we would have to come back on. I can’t say any more than that. We did the maximum today,” Milan said.

“Of course, I’m disappointed but the chances are what they are on a Grand Tour. The chances so far have gone the way they’ve gone and that’s the way it is.”