Milan Mashes to Big Stage Win in Tirreno, Del Toro Seals Overall Ahead of Jorgenson

Jonathan Milan showed he is well up for a bunch sprint if things somehow stay together at next weekend’s Milan-San Remo, pulling off a big win on the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Italian unleased a long-distance gallop on Sunday’s sprint, holding off Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers), Laurenz Rex (Soudal Quick-Step) and the rest of the peloton to the line. Race leader Isaac Del Toro was caught up in a crash but was relatively unscathed and rolled in towards the finish, his final GC win over Matteo Jorgenson secured by UCI rules governing incidents inside the final 3km.

American rider Jorgenson moved up a place on GC when he and Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert finished ahead of Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) in the intermediate sprint. The time bonuses were enough to lift Jorgenson two seconds clear of Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the overall.

He finished 40 seconds behind Del Toro, showing fine form in advance of his upcoming ride in Milan-San Remo.

Milan, too, will be encouraged in advance of La Primavera, although the hilly nature of the course makes things more demanding for him than Jorgenson.

“I feel pain and happiness at the same time. It’s been a tough week and a tough stage again today,” he said following his win. “My teammates supported me all the way. I had very little to do after them today. They gave me a perfect lead out. I want to enjoy this victory and take a rest ahead of Milano-San Remo where we have two big names, Mathieu [van der Poel] and Tadej [Pogacar]. I still have one week to be ready to fight with them.”

Del Toro all in for team role

Del Toro is similarly set to ride San Remo next weekend and has shown he is in top shape.

“I’m super happy to get this victory with the team,” he said on Sunday. “I’ve been coming here for the last three years and I’m very proud of the achievements with team. It’s the way I want to race more as a leader.

“I’ve been in Mathieu van der Poel’s wheel more than often this week. Maybe that will help in Milano-San Remo.

However, despite his strong form, he suppresses any personal ambitions.

“I’ll be racing it for Tadej [Pogačar] and not looking for a result for myself. There won’t be Jhonathan Narvaez not Tim Wellens [due to injuries], so I want to do a great job as a team-mate,” he said.

“I enjoy to be this kind of guy who can switch roles and I want to learn as fast as I can.

“It’s super nice to be the first Mexican winner of Tirreno-Adriatico. People back home support me like crazy, they start to understand the sport.”