Milan beats Philipsen in ultra-exciting Tirreno sprint and achieves double victory; Merlier once again does not participate

Jonathan Milan has won the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. In an exciting sprint from a reduced group, the Italian of Lidl-Trek was just slightly faster than Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who had won the day before. Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) completed the podium. Thanks to the bonus seconds, Milan also takes over the leader's jersey from Juan Ayuso.

The day after Phil Bauhaus' sprint victory, another sprinter's stage was on the agenda in the Italian stage race, although Thursday's stage was considered slightly more challenging. "A little harder every day," that is how we could describe the motto of the course designers. The 207-kilometer stage from Arrone to Giulianova included one noteworthy obstacle: the Valico di Castelluccio pass (16.9 kilometers at an average of 5.0 percent) did not seem particularly tough on paper and was tackled after seventy kilometers of racing. In the final phase, the course continued to undulate, with a slightly uphill final kilometer as well. Right up the alley of the strong sprinters in the peloton. Or so everyone thought.

Bais reclaims mountain jersey from Carapaz 

As is often the case, there was an early breakaway group. Lorenzo Quartucci (Corratec - Vini Fantini), Mirco Maestri, former mountain king Davide Bais (both Polti-Kometa), Alexander Kamp (Tudor), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Alex Tolio (Bardiani) were all in the lead group in the early phase. The six riders managed to build up a four-minute lead, and everyone was waiting to see what would unfold on the slopes of the Valico di Castelluccio. The expectation was that Bais, as he had done a few days earlier, would take off and enjoy another day as the leader in the mountain classification (after stage three, Richard Carapaz had taken over the lead).

And so it was: Bais did not take home the maximum points (he came in third and took two points), but he did ensure his lead in the mountain classification battle. In the peloton, the pace was easy on the climb, resulting in all the sprinters either making it over the top in one go or quickly catching up on the descent.

Cavendish and Merlier had to give way in cunning final phase, Milan defeats Philipsen and triumphs

As the last fifty kilometers approached, the six leaders still had a three-minute advantage. The sprinters' teams were thus poised to start a serious chase, although this was perhaps too confidently stated, considering the 'one minute per ten kilometers' rule of thumb. With 25 kilometers to go, it was the end of the line for Tolio, Bais and Quartucci. Kamp, Abrahamsen and Maestri tried to resist valiantly. And successfully, as they were only caught one kilometer from the finish (!), or at least, so it seemed, as the Scandinavian continued solo for a while longer!

Tom Pidcock also wanted to join in the sprinters' fray but found himself at the front of the peloton quite early. Consequently, the gap to Abrahamsen was closed, albeit in a sprinting manner. Only about 75 meters from the finish, the Uno-X rider saw his dream shatter into a thousand pieces. It appeared that Philipsen and Milan were evenly matched in the ensuing sprint (with others like Tim Merlier and Mark Cavendish having been dropped in the final phase), but it was the Southern European who pushed his wheel over the line just a bit sooner. The local rider thereby achieved a double victory: thanks to the bonus seconds, he moved ahead of Ayuso in the standings.