Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 3: Jonathan Milan wins after crash-marred finale

Jonathan Milan won his first race in Lidl-Trek colours on stage 3 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Italian powered to the line after a perfect lead-out from his team and easily held off his remaining rivals after a crash-marred finish.

Arne Marit (Intermarché-Wanty) finished a distant second, with Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti Kometa) in third. Less than 20 riders competed for the win after a crash inside the final kilometre took down a number of riders and held up the majority of the peloton.

Milan had no such trouble though and Lidl-Trek controlled the stage for most of the day, first ensuring that a six-rider break never established a significant lead and then positioning Milan for the sprint. The Italian rider still had two teammates with him as he raced through the final two corners, with Simone Consonni taking a final turn before Milan unleashed his sprint.

Although he wasn't part of the final lead-out train, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier did a huge amount of work. First, he set the pace for much of the stage, and then he helped bring back the break inside the final few kilometres, as he rode with the confidence of recently securing a new one-year contract with the team.

"It's a really special victory and it's nice to start the season like this. I was looking for and believing in our chances as a team and we came here with one goal, to get results," Milan said at the finish.

"Today we did such an amazing job because they all supported me and they put me in the perfect position. I have to say thanks to them. I'm so happy with my victory and my teammates," he added.

Despite being held up in the crash, overnight leader Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) kept his position at the top of the overall standings.

Breakaway denied

With such a sprint-friendly route on stage 3, little hope was given to the riders willing to fight for the breakaway but that didn't stop a group from forming and in truth, the six escapees pushed the peloton all the way.

Asier Etxeberria (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Unai Esparza (Illes Balears Arabay Cycling), Guillermo Thomas Silva (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Laurent Gervais (Project Echelon Racing), Nathan Smith (Team Novo Nordisk) and Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) formed the early move and even though their advantage swung out to almost four minutes, it looked as though the peloton had the situation under control.

Ghebreigzabhier had done a huge amount of work on the front to reduce the gap to 48 seconds with 18km to go but as soon as Lidl-Trek pulled their efforts back, the break began to reestablish their position.

UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe provided token gestures on the front of the peloton, but both squads were far more interested in preserving their GC aspirations than leading out a sprint and with 6km to go, the break still held a handsome 30-second gap on the main field.

By that point, Esparza had been dropped and when Gervais almost came down on a corner the break were reduced to just four riders. With 3km to go, the gap was still at a manageable 18 seconds but one final pull from Lidl-Trek brought the field to within touching distance.

A crash inside the final 2km took Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) out of the picture - along with several of his teammates - but Milan and Lidl-Trek had no such problem, scooping up the break and then helping their new powerhouse sprinter to his first win of the year.