There hasn’t been a sprinter in pink after the Giro d’Italia‘s first stage since Mark Cavendish roared up Naples seafront to claim the maglia rosa way back in 2013, but Jonathan Milan certainly has ambitions to set the record straight on that score on Friday in Nessebar.
Barring crosswinds along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coastline or unexpected developments on what looks to be a straightforward, opening 147-kilometre stage, stage 1’s finish on the Bulevard Demokratsia is expected to end in a bunch sprint.
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While Tirana’s stage 1 did come down to a reduced bunch sprint of 37 riders, Bulgaria’s flat opening day is the best chance for the sprinters to take the pink since Sardinia in 2017, when Austrian Lukas Pöstlberger outwitted the bunch with a surprise late attack. So as Milan told reporters in a special Lidl-Trek press meet at one of their local outlets near Nessebar, he’s not going to let his best chance to claim his first-ever Grand Tour leader’s jersey go by.
The sprinting field is a deep one in this year’s Giro, with riders of the calibre of Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) and Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) just two of Milan’s opponents.
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