'We get a lot of screaming from behind' – Lidl-Trek deliver ‘eager’ Milan to glory at Giro d'Italia

Jonathan Milan let out a huge roar as he crossed the finish line as the winner of stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia, the decibels carrying a good 500 metres up the Ligurian coast.

“When I win, I always scream,” the Italian acknowledged in his winner’s press conference in Andora. “It’s sort of my celebration.”

It turns out this is not confined to one side of the finish line.

“We get a lot of screaming from behind,” jokes Edward Theuns, a member of Milan’s Lidl-Trek lead-out train.

“He is very eager, sometimes maybe too eager. He has the old-school Italian temperament. He really wants to win. But the temperament he has is the good one. He’s a winner.”

Read more: Giro d'Italia stage 4: Jonathan Milan takes memorable sprint win

After getting their lines slightly muddled in the Giro’s first sprint finish on Monday, there was complete harmony between Lidl-Trek’s lead-out and sprinter on stage 4, which was complicated by the late climb and descent of the Capo Mele, a fixture of Milan-San Remo.

Throwing fuel on that particular fire was Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna, a national teammate on the track not only of Milan but also his last lead-out man, Simone Consonni. “It was the national pursuit team show today,” Milan noted.

Ganna attacked near the bottom of the 1500-metre climb and threatened to steal the show as he went over the top with a gap, but Lidl-Trek managed to get three lead-out men over the top in the peloton. Jasper Stuyven hit the front for the descent, before Theuns took over with a long-range pull, Consonni closed the gap to Ganna, and Milan finished the job.

“It wasn’t a big surprise,” Theuns said of Ganna’s attack. “We expected it a bit but in the end, it didn’t change our tactics so much. We had the goal to be there with myself and Simone together with Jonny, we were hoping Jasper had something left and he did, taking it into the downhill which made a huge difference for us.”

Despite those numbers, the strength of Ganna’s attack disrupted the rhythm and forced each rider to open the taps earlier than planned.

“Ganna was still there and I didn’t want to take the risk of holding off and getting the wave over me, so I went earlier,” Theuns explained. “I was hoping Simone could take advantage of some slipstream from Ganna while launching the sprint.”

Read more: Filippo Ganna insists late move was not planned, but Ineos Grenadiers continue to attack Giro d'Italia

Consonni indeed had to produce a monster pull as he rounded Ganna, and, as Visma-Lease a Bike moved up, he had to drop Milan off a little earlier than he’d have liked.

“I had to leave him at maybe 300 metres,” Consonni said, “but Jonny is amazing.”

Stuyven summed it up most nearly of all: “Maybe it was all a bit early but if you win then you’ve done the right thing I think.”

‘A great atmosphere in the team’

Milan paid tribute to his teammates after his visit to the podium in Novara, but then again, leaders always do. There was a sense this time, though, that the plaudits were more genuine and heartfelt than usual.

“They were fundamental,” Milan said of the Belgian duo Theuns and Stuyven in response to a question from a Belgian reporter. “I have a lot of confidence in them.” As for Consonni, “we have a great friendship, we are roommates not only here but with the national team, and this friendship helps us to coordinate better in the finals.”

It wasn’t just the lead-out, either, with Theuns paying tribute to all those who’d pulled before. “Amanuel [Ghebreigzabhier], [Andrea] Bagioli, Daan Hoole, even Juanpe [López, GC leader] - he didn’t pull in the wind but was fetching bottles.

“They were amazing. It was a super big team effort. We have a great group here, we get along really well. We have a great atmosphere and it will be even better tonight.”

As for Milan himself, perhaps the victory will take the edge off some of that eagerness for the upcoming sprints. Or “maybe just the opposite,” Theuns joked.

“If he can calm himself on some moments, and puts the work into the hands of his teammates who are really good in this, that will make him even better.”

A little less screaming on one side of the line, then, but certainly not on the other.

“I will try to scream again in the next days,” Milan concluded with a grin.

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