Cycling: Cycling-Milan sprints to win Giro stage 13 for victory number three

(Reuters) -Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek maintained his excellent form at the Giro d’Italia to win stage 13 on Friday, the Italian’s third stage victory.

His team worked perfectly, leading him out into the last kilometre and Milan was well placed in second as they rounded the final bend, but it looked like Fernando Gaviria would steal the win as he took to the front.

Milan, however, showed just why he is the points classification leader as he pounced to take another stage victory, with Poland’s Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) finishing strongly in second and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) third.

“I was delivered in perfect position before the sprint. Simone Consonni started his lead out from 400 metres to go,” Milan said.

“It’s impressive how everyone on the team was committed to the sprint finish. I’m super happy and proud of my team.”

The 179-km ride from Riccione to Cento is the flattest stage of the Giro, and with Saturday bringing an individual time trial before the race heads into the mountains, this was set up for the sprinters to take another stage.

An early break by three Italian riders, Andrea Pietrobon, Manuele Tarozzi and Alessandro Tonelli managed to gain a three minute advantage, before the peloton upped the pace to reel them in with over 50 kilometres still to race.

The peloton then dropped a large group of riders, including Milan, and the Italian had to use up plenty of energy playing catch-up, but he still had the legs at the finish, for another win after previously taking stages four and 11.

“It feels great to win a third stage but there was a moment in which I was at the back of the peloton and echelons were formed, our guys did an amazing job to bring us back together,” Milan said.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) maintained his firm grip on the leader’s maglia rosa, and is still two minutes and 40 seconds ahead of Daniel Felipe Martinez, with Geraint Thomas 16 seconds further behind in third.

“So far, something happened in every stage of the Giro d’Italia and today was no exception,” Pogacar said.

“Tomorrow I hope to have the same feelings as in the last time trial and finish very strongly.”

(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Toby Davis)