Jonathan Milan is the winner of the eleventh stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024, the one with arrival in Francavilla al Mare. As scheduled, there was a sprint finish at the finish line located in via Tosti, in the southern area of the city, for the section that started from Foiano di Val Fortore 207 km earlier (1850 meters of overall altitude difference for this day of competition) .
Stage characterized by the initial escape of Champion (first at the Intergiri finish line in San Salvo Marina), Van Dijk (first Saul Gpm in Pietracatella) and Affini (two from Visma and one from Cofidis) in the stretch outside the region before arriving in Vasto and from there go back up state road 16 to reach the finish line where Jonathan Milan, the Ciclamino jersey and main sprinter of the group, was awaited. The fugitives were caught 34 km from the finish line and everything pointed to a collective sprint after having thwarted some sprint attempts from San Vito onwards (like that of Andea Piccolo at minus 20). With a fall 300 meters from the finish, Mioan managed to put Lanryota ahead of everyone. Merlier and Groves complete the day’s podium
For Francavilla today was a day of true celebration, with the whole city decorated in pink and lots of people in the street waiting for the “tadpoles”. Many, many ovens for kebabs also on the streets of Francavilla, where the legendary Francesco Moser was also present, to whom a special plaque was donated. Also present at the finish line were Damiano Cunego, Andrea Tafi (participants in the Giro-E) and many authorities.
And this time, compared to 2001, when Ellis Rastelli won at the same finish line in a sprint with around 30 men after the group had been split up along the way, the weather was kind. In 2001, in one of the stages of the first, historic Grande Departure from Abruzzo of the Giro (in the group there were champions such as Pantani, Di Luca and Cipollini, for example, and the edition was won by Gilberto Simoni), the pouring rain on the course but also at the finish line it had partly influenced the participation of the public, who nevertheless applauded the Maglia Rosa of that day, the Belgian Rick Verbrugghe, and all the other athletes. Today, even without the bright sun, there was no shortage of chants and applause for Pippo Ganna, the most loved Italian in the absence of the Teatino Ciccone, and for the leader Tadej Pogacar, who arrived in the city wearing the shirt that celebrates the first in the standings. He is the great favorite of this edition and in the first 11 stages with 3 victories he has already made it clear that he wants to take first place in the general classification also in the last stage which will decide the 2024 “Pink King”. arriving in Francavilla was the Belgian Cian Uijtdebroeks, fifth place and owner of the Maglia Bianca dedicated to the best youngster. The Team Visma rider had to say goodbye to his dreams of the ranking due to a respiratory problem that would have already debilitated him in yesterday’s stage where he lost precious seconds to Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorius). The Dutch team explained this in a press release issued on the morning of Wednesday 15 May. Thanks to Uijtdebroeks’ forfeit, Antonio Tiberi officially entered the top five, thus jumping to the command of the ranking dedicated to the Under 25s and effectively becoming the favorite for the final victory that has been missing in Italy since 2015 when Fabio Aru took the podium in Milan . And he arrived in Francavilla wearing the Maglia Bianca. Before the start Stefano Oldani of Cofidis also withdrew
