Merlier is injured, Kooij is at home: Remaining sprint competitors admit the Giro is a playground for Milan

Behind Milan, it was the Pole Stanislav Aniolkowski who surprisingly rode to second place. The 27-year-old sprinter from Cofidis had already finished eighth on the third day, but Friday's sprint exceeded his own expectations. "This means you have to keep believing and working hard every day. Then a day like this comes, although I was still far from victory," he said in an interview with Eurosport, both happy and realistic.

Aniolkowski can put the few bike lengths behind Milan into perspective after an incredibly tough lead-up to the Giro. "I want to thank my team for the chance to be here. I couldn't train for a long time due to a stress fracture in my shin, which meant I couldn't cycle with my teammates and had to follow an individual program in the gym and the pool during training camp. I only saw my teammates during meals, so I'm super happy to be back so strong now."

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In third place, we have Phil Bauhaus. The German rider from Bahrain Victorious consistently finished in the top ten in the previous sprints, and Friday was no different. "I think it was a good way to end my second week," he said soberly, knowing that Saturday is a time trial and Sunday is a climbing stage. "I positioned myself well in Milan's wheel, but I had to brake in the last 200 meters when Oliveira finished his lead-out for UAE. It's hard to get going again after that, and I didn't have the legs for it."

Bauhaus realizes that even with a perfect sprint, winning would have been difficult. "It's tough to compete against this Lidl-Trek team. They rode the last 500 meters with five men, and all you can do is hope to stay in Milan's wheel. He's so strong... With such a perfect lead-out, it's almost impossible to beat him," he admitted, waving the white flag. Even the fact that Milan missed a short phase of echelons didn't matter. "We knew there would be crosswinds, but it wasn't very difficult. It was all about positioning. I come from West Germany, so a bit of wind is no problem."

In contrast to Bauhaus, Fernando Gaviria dared to go early to surprise Milan. However, the Colombian from Movistar had to pay for his risky gamble with a counterattack from the Italian, resulting in only a fifth place finish for the day. "It was a tricky finale with all those turns, but Davide Cimolai and Lorenzo Milesi put me in a good position. After the last turn, I thought the finish was closer than my legs wanted it to be. It just wasn't meant to be today; my watts dropped quickly."