Italian sprinter Milan powers to
2nd stage win at Tour de France, Pogačar maintains lead
[July 24, 2025]
VALENCE, France (AP) — Sprint specialist Jonathan Milan
pounced at the finish to win the 17th stage of the Tour de France
after a crash in the last kilometer derailed rivals’ hopes on
Wednesday.
Italian rider Milan, the green jersey holder, consolidated his lead
in the points classification with an explosive finish to get his
wheel just over the line ahead of Jordi Meeus, Tobias Lund Andresen,
Arnaud De Lie, Davide Ballerini and others in a rain-soaked sprint
finale.
It’s Milan’s second stage win of the Tour after his victory in
similar fashion in Laval on Saturday.
But it was arguably more dramatic with rival sprinter Tim Merlier
and others involved in a crash under the “flamme rouge” — the
triangular red banner over the road signaling the final kilometer.
“The last 25 kilometers were really, really, fast,” said Merlier,
who finished 25th, more than a minute behind. “I think I did a
mistake. I took one roundabout on the wrong side and I lost a lot of
positions. And then I knew I needed to move up. The moment I wanted
to move up, I crashed.”
Milan was in trouble earlier in the stage when the peloton split
into two groups, finding himself in the second one. He had Lidl-Trek
teammates Quinn Simmons and Jasper Stuyven to thank for dropping
back to help.
“I didn’t survive alone, I survived with the help of my teammates
and I have to appreciate this. Without them, I would still be on one
of the climbs, I wouldn’t be here,” said Milan, who clocked 71.1
km/h and is the first Italian to win two stages in the same Tour
since Vincenzo Nibali in 2014.
There was no change atop the overall standings with three-time Tour
champion Tadej Pogačar maintaining his lead of 4 minutes, 15 seconds
over main rival Jonas Vingegaard.
Milan stretched his lead in the points standings to 312, with
Pogačar next on 240.
There were attacks from the start Wednesday with Jonas Abrahamsen,
Wout van Aert and others all agitating to get away on the largely
flat 160.4-kilometer route from Bollčne.
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Italy's Vincenzo Albanese, right, and France's Quentin Pacher pedal
during the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over
160.4 kilometers (99.7 miles) with start in Bollene and finish in
Valence, France, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Four – Abrahamsen, Vincenzo Albanese, Quentin
Pacher and Mathieu Burgaudeau – managed to escape and led for most
of the stage.
Abrahamsen, who won Stage 11 after Pogačar crashed near the finish
last week, went on his own with 11.5 kilometers to go,
But the gap was getting smaller and smaller as Tim Wellens drove the
bunch, followed by UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates Pavel Sivakov and
Pogačar.
Abrahamsen was swallowed up by the bunch inside the 5-kilometer
sprint finish. He dropped back and received an encouraging pat on
the back from a teammate.
Thursday's stage
The fun's over for the sprinters as the Tour heads to the Alps with
Stage 18 taking the riders 171.1 kilometers from Vif to a
mountain-top finish on the 2,304-meter Col de la Loze above
Courchevel. It's arguably the toughest stage of the Tour with 5,500
meters of vertical gain including the 1,914-meter Col du Glandon.
Then there's a 19.2-kilometer climb at 7.9% to the Col de la
Madeleine, where the riders will reach 2,000 meters for the first
time. It won't be the last time on Thursday, which could provide
another opportunity for Vingegaard to test Pogačar.
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