Giro d'Italia stage 13: Jonathan Milan makes it three

Jonathan Milan took his third victory of the Giro d'Italia on stage 13, with the Lidl-Trek sprinter making the most of Fernando Gaviria's (Movistar) early acceleration to win in unstoppable fashion.

The maglia ciclamino was positioned perfectly by his Lidl-Trek teammates in the closing kilometres and extended his lead in the points classification.

Gaviria could be forgiven for his trademark long sprint, with the Colombian no longer able to beat the fastest in the world in a straight-up shootout. However, the Movistar man inadvertently offered a handy lead-out to Milan, who waited in the wheels and struck out for home in the closing metres.

Behind Milan's domineering acceleration, Cofidis' surprise package Stanisław Aniołkowski placed second, followed by Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) in third and Visma-Lease a Bike's Tim van Dijke in fourth.

As for Soudal Quick-Step's Tim Merlier, stage 13 did not go to plan, with the Belgian placed outside the top 10 in Cento.

Earlier in the stage, Andrea Pietrobon (Polti Kometa) and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè duo Alessandro Tonelli and Manuele Tarozzi had formed the day's breakaway, but with just three riders up the road and no categorised climbs to talk of, their move was always destined to fail.

"Just again, I am super happy, super proud of my team and like always, I say thanks to them," said Milan.

"They delivered me in the perfect position, we started really good in this finish, we knew that we had to come into the last corner with Simone [Consonni] and he would have to start his lead-out with 400m to go."

Three-man break fulfil their duties for the cameras

With no categorised climbs on the route profile for stage 13, Friday's stage was always going to suit a sprint finish and draw a shudder from any riders tasked with going up the road in a doomed breakaway.

Much talk at the start of the day surrounded Tudor Pro Cycling Alberto Dainese, whose victories in the last two editions of the Giro have come in stages without any categorised climbs - could he do it again this year?

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Stage 13 produced little rock and roll racing, but the musician from stage start could be forgiven for his over-promise, even if Tadej Pogačar remained unamused

Viewers would have a while to wait to receive that answer, with the first hour of racing the second slowest of the Giro to date, such was the lack of appetite ahead of Saturday's decisive time trial and Sunday's saw-tooth-like profile. Under these circumstances, it was no surprise to see three Italians form the definitive breakaway, all of whom were performing their duties of getting the colours of their UCI ProTeams on television.

Andrea Pietrobon of Polti Kometa was joined in the breakaway by the VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè duo of Alessandro Tonelli and Manuele Tarozzi, a group which the peloton was happy to let go on the march as they mopped up the remaining points in the intermediate sprints behind.

Maglia ciclamino wearer Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) extended his lead in that competition, with Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal Quick-Step swapping turns at the head of the peloton.

Echelons catch out Jonathan Milan

For Milan, all seemed to be going well as he prepared for another sprint opportunity at the finish, but his afternoon descended into panic as the race neared the final 60km.

With gusts of wind buffeting the area, Ineos Grenadiers swamped the front of the peloton and set a searing pace strong enough to produce echelons in the pack. Missing the split was Milan, who was forced to try and close the gap himself as the rest of the second group began to count their losses. Amidst this flurry of activity from behind, the breakaway was caught and Lidl-Trek dropped back to help the group containing Milan.

Under their steam, the two groups coalesced with 43km to ride, after almost 20km of non-stop racing at the front of the race. With a ceasefire instilled for the next 10km or so, VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè's Domenico Pozzovivo was allowed to return to peloton, having proven the one GC rider caught out by the echelons.

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Ineos Grenadiers pioneered the day's echelons, but Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates were never in danger of missing out

With the final 30km beckoning and the peloton led at a sensible but not monstrous pace by Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal Quick-Step, Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) sought their fortune, with their two-man breakaway soon developing a gap of 30 seconds.

Despite a crash bringing down Will Barta (Movistar), David Dekker (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and others, however, the peloton soon had the late breakaway under control and the two opportunists were brought back under control with 8.8km to ride. To De Pooter's credit, he had lasted almost 8km alone before his ambitions were quashed.

Milan makes no mistake in the sprint finish

The hammer was dropped in the peloton with 5km to go as UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers raced for the safest position at the head of the peloton. Ben Swift won the race on behalf of Geraint Thomas and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) snuck into position in second wheel.

His presence at the front was no doubt in service to his team's sprinter Tim Merlier, who was looking to gain revenge on Milan for his defeat earlier in the week. It was Milan's Lidl-Trek, though, who found their way to the front alongside Jayco AlUla heading into the final 2km, with all teams desperate to make the most of the last opportunity for the sprinters of the second week.

Jasper Stuyven led Lidl-Trek into the final kilometre, handing the baton over to Edward Theuns and finally Simone Consonni with 400 metres to go. At this point, Milan used his race nous to leave Consonni's wheel and follow the acceleration of Movistar's Fernando Gaviria, who hit out for home with his trademark long sprint.

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The sprint for the line

In Gaviria's slipstream, Milan could not have wished for a better lead-out and with 175 metres to ride, the Italian sprinter launched his large frame around the left-hand shoulder of Gaviria, not to be stopped before the line. It was a third stage win of the race for Italy's new superstar, who looks on course to retain the maglia ciclamino for a second season running.

As the likes of Merlier and Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) faltered in the closing kilometres, a few surprise packages came to the fore, offering an unusual top 10 that included Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis, second) and Tim van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike, fourth).

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