Giro d’Italia Stage 21: Milan Finally Delivers After Weeks of Frustration, Vingegaard Takes GC

Jonathan Milan showed persistence is the key at the Giro d’Italia, finally landing the stage win he was dreaming of on the last possible opportunity at this year’s race.

The Lidl-Trek tank launched off the wheel of Dylan Groenewegen and blasted home first, beating Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti VisitMalta), Paul Pehoët (Groupama-FDJ United) and a frustrated Groenewegen on the rise to the line.

Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos) was undoubtedly the strongest on the stage, driving a three man break in the finale, but the non-cooperation of the others saw them recaptured with 3km to go, 15km after Ganna made his move.

Jonas Vingegaard finished safely in the main bunch to seal his overall win, becoming only the eighth male rider to win the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.

He joins Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome in this, and sends a clear warning to his Tour rivals that he is on course for a big, big campaign.

He beat Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 5:22 and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) by 6:25.

Vingegaard wins big

Vingegaard was using the Giro as a platform to be in top shape for the Tour de France, where he hopes to beat four-time winner Tadej Pogačar and others, but it was also a major goal in itself.

He took five stage wins and dominated the overall.

“It’s amazing to see my name on the Trofeo Senza Fine,” the Danish Visma-Lease a Bike rider said. “It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It’s a very special day with all those people on the roadsides.

“What an honor to wear the Maglia Rosa in the streets of Rome! It brings me tears in my eyes to share this moment with my wife and my children. They’re always there for me. It’s amazing to be now one of the only eight riders who have won all three Grand Tours.”

As for Milan, he had frustration after frustration at the Giro, taking second and fourth in the opening week and third on stage 18, but otherwise being a long, long way off a stage win.

He had previously won stages in 2023 and 2024, as well as two stages in the Tour, and had higher expectations of himself than what he was achieving.

“I am super happy to end this Giro in this way. I am really proud for what we achieved in this Giro,” he said. “I mean, in the end of the day, we could say that we could do better on some stages, but the important thing is that we always give our best. We were always in the front fighting and trying to achieve the biggest goal.

“With Cicco [mountains winner Giulio Ciccone] we had an amazing results. I was missing a victory and I am super happy to make it today after the last two years when I was here and never achieved something. I am super happy to win in Rome.”

Powerhouses power clear

The final stage of the Giro was a chance for Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team to celebrate their achievements, and so too the other classification winners. These included points leader Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), mountains winner Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and the best young rider Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious).

It was also one last chance for the sprinters, who knew that the flat, 131km stage starting and finishing in Rome was almost certainly destined to finish in a mass sprint to the line. That wasn’t guaranteed, though, with attackers hoping to beat the odds and to pull off a rare and prestigious result.

The pressure to achieve was accentuated by the remarkable fact that only eight teams had won a stage in the race.

The riders sped onto the finishing circuit and passed through the finish line for the first time with 75km left on the clock. They had eight laps to do of the circuit, and several attacks were launched without much luck.

Igor Arrieta won the Red Bull Kilometer with 53km left, securing the overall classification for that category in the process. Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United) leaped clear of the peloton with 46km left and was joined soon afterwards by Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech).

They pulled hard but had just ten seconds with three laps to go, and were finally recaptured with 27.4km left. Remy Cavagna leaped across to his teammate Rochas, with Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek) also there in the four-man group.

The latter was sitting on due to his team’s desire for a bunch sprint for Jonathan Milan, but the other three were pulling hard. Campenaerts and Cavagna are powerhouses but the sprinters’ teams limited their gains and they had just 12 seconds with 20km remaining, the point where Rochas cracked and slipped back.

Ganna shows brute power

The break was finally caught by a chase group with 18km left. This included the sprinters Dylan Groenewegen and Jonathan Milan, as well as Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos). The latter attacked very soon afterwards and his brute strength ensured that only Sobrero and Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) could go with him.

Both are very strong riders but their commitment to their team sprinters meant they were unable or unwilling to contribute. Still Ganna was on a stormer and ensured they had 18 seconds with 9km left. Unibet Rose Rockets swept to the front and reduced that to 12 seconds with just over 5km left.

They were finally caught 3km from home, with Rockets continuing to put in a huge stint. Lidl-Trek began to drive for Milan with 2km remaining, with Stuyven leading into the final kilometer. Groenewegen and Magnier tried but failed to flourish, with Milan nodding and pounding his way to a long-awaited stage win.