Jonathan Milan scores his second stage in the Giro d'Italia 2024

Stage that followed the planned script with a route that sought the Adriatic coast to offer a completely favorable final part in clear benefit for the fast men of the peloton who had another opportunity to measure themselves in a new sprint. The stage began with the abandonment before the start of Cian Uijtdebroeks, who led the classification of best young rider.

Day for the sprinters that Jonathan Milan takes after a powerful sprint

207 kilometers of stage in which the Giro d'Italia 2024 began its return to the north of the peninsula seeking the Adriatic coast on a day that passed from Foiano di Val Fortore to Francavilla al Mare with a first hilly stage until reaching the seashore where the route became completely flat until the finish.

A day in which it was expected that the peloton would take it easy leaving the task to the fast men of the peloton and their teams, a script that began to take shape from the very start when the first breakaway of the day was formed with a trio made up of the Frenchman from Cofidis Thomas Champion and the members of Visma-Lease a Bike Tim van Dijke and Edoardo Affini who seemed to want to shake off the bad luck that haunts the Dutch team in this Giro d'Italia 2024 that began with the abandonments of Gesink and Laporte, continued with the withdrawal of their sprinter Olav Kooij and lived its last chapter yesterday afternoon when their leader Cian Uijtdebroeks fell ill, who, until then, led the best young rider classification in addition to occupying 5th place in the general classification.

The escapees made their way despite the high pace of the peloton. In fact, their adventure would end quite far from the finish, at 35 kilometers, coinciding with the arrival of the bonus sprint in which, surprisingly, Geraint Thomas appeared and managed to take a couple of seconds compared to his rivals in the general classification.

In the final stretch, the pace intensified towards a certain mass arrival in which again, Tadej Pogacar worked to position Juan Sebastián Molano, this time without much success against the push of Soudal-QuickStep, Lidl-Trek, or Alpecin-Deceuninck. Finally, despite a very good lead-out by Soudal-QuickStep, Tim Merlier had to watch, powerless, as a powerful Jonathan Milan overtook him clearly in the last meters to win convincingly, becoming the only cyclist so far, apart from Tadej Pogacar, to have repeated victory in this Giro d'Italia 2024.

Stage 11 Classification

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 4h23'18''
2. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) +00''
3. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceunink) +00''
4. Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) +00''
5. Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) +00''
6. Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) +00''
7. Danny Van Poppel (BORA-Hansgrohe) +00''
8. Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) +00''
9. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
10. Stanislaw Aniolkowsky (Cofidis) +00''

General Classification

1. Tadej Poga?ar (UAE Team Emirates) 41h09'26''
2. Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2'40''
3. Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers) +2'56''
4. Ben O'Connor (INEOS-Grenadiers) +3'39''
5. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +4'27''
6. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +4'57''
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) +5'19''
8. Filipo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) +5'23''
9. Einet Rubio (Movistar Team) +5'28''
10. Thymen Arensman (INEOS-Grenadiers) +5'52''