Giro d’Italia: Jonathan Milan ‘suffered quite a lot’ on chaotic stage as Tim Merlier wins first sprint battle

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) were among the riders narrowly denied victory as Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) claimed the first sprint victory of this Giro d’Italia.

Last year’s maglia ciclamino winner Milan was hoping to kick-start his defence of the jersey with a win in Fossano on stage 3 and was well-placed leading into the final few metres, but the Italian just missed out on a fourth win this season thanks to Merlier’s lunge on the line.

“It was really chaotic, with this climb, also with the attack of Pogačar and Geraint [Thomas]. I suffered quite a lot,” he said at the finish. “It was chaotic, we lost each other a bit. They came in the last kilometres, in the last 500m. I saw [Matteo] Trentin coming full gas on the right, I moved on the right and tried to take the line and the speed. He [Merlier] had a better sprint than me so congratulations to him.’

Read more: Giro d'Italia stage 3: Tim Merlier takes chaotic win after Pogačar and Thomas go on the attack

After a tough opening weekend featuring several climbs and a summit finish, the sprinters have a few chances this week to open their Giro accounts, including stage 4 on Tuesday.

But with even more of an uphill drag to the line than on stage 3, that finish promises to be anything but clear-cut. Still, Milan can take plenty of confidence into that from his performance in the opening sprint showdown.

“Of course [we’ll try again on stage 4], we have another chance,” he added. “Now we move forward. We had fun today.”

Olav Kooij was another to try his luck in Fossano in an attempt to add to his tally of four wins in 2024 but was squeezed out in the final few metres. Appearing at his first Grand Tour, the Dutchman has more pressure on his shoulders thanks to the absence of the injured Wout Van Aert, and has experienced a rough start after crashing twice in the opening stages.

But he enjoyed a much better day in the saddle on stage 3, successfully navigating the chaotic middle section of the race as a sprinter-heavy breakaway was caught, before contesting the sprint. The 22-year-old came over the line in sixth place, just behind third-placed Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), and Tobias Lund Andresen (dsm-firmenich PostNL).

“It was easy and then the intermediate and then the split, so there was actually some good racing and then in the last few kilometres, it was a bit stop and go for me,” he told reporters at the finish.

“I wanted to go on the left and then I couldn’t open then and I had to go to the right, then I had already lost the speed. I was quite happy with the feeling after the crash, it’s not perfect but I didn’t have too many problems from it so I hope we can get back to normal in the coming days.”

Read more: Giro d’Italia: DSM juggle sprint leadership as Lund Andresen takes over from Jakobsen again

Several teams were caught out by the 26-man sprinters’ breakaway that got the jump on the peloton after accelerating to the first intermediate sprint and continuing to ride hard. Kooij was part of that group but never thought their lead over the bunch was sustainable. “We didn’t talk much, I think we just rolled through at a solid pace and it was quite logical that in the end, it would come back,” he said.

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