Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) continued his perfect stage race record this season, sealing the overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday afternoon.
The two-time Tour de France winner, who successfully defended his O Gran Camiño title last month, finished comfortably within the peloton on stage seven in San Benedetto del Tronto to secure the blue leader's jersey.
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won the flat final stage in a bunch sprint, doubling up on victories at the race.
With little climbing on the menu, Vingegaard's overall race win seemed a foregone conclusion before the rollout. The Dane entered the final day following back-to-back victories on stages five and six, which gave him an advantage of one minute and 24 seconds that proved unassailable.
The final podium, and indeed the entire top 10, remained unchanged from stage six, with Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second and third respectively.
"It's one of the biggest victories I've had, for sure," Vingegaard said afterwards. "I'm very, very happy to have taken the overall victory here, as well as two stages. It's a very big victory for me, and I will enjoy it, for sure."
Sunday’s stage at Tirreno-Adriatico was raced at an average speed of 47.179km/h, a new record in the event’s 59-year history.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
A six-rider breakaway characterised the lion's share of the stage, containing notably Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and birthday boy Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers). The group’s foray lasted until inside 15km to go, when, on the finishing circuit in San Benedetto del Tronto, they were caught by the sprint teams.
Uno-X, riding for Alexander Kristoff, led through two dicey turns in the final 3km, before sending Søren Wærenskjold on a flier down the finishing straight.
Milan instinctively took up the chase, before waiting for his teammate Simone Consonni, who towed him back into contention to sprint for victory. “Simone did a fantastic lead-out for me,” Milan said afterwards. “Like the last one, it’s super special. It was a hard and tough day, with a super hard pace.
"In the beginning, we knew it would be really hard. We wanted to do a nice pace, just to not leave a big gap for the break. In the front, there were super strong riders, so we had to push a lot in the beginning. In the end, with such a high speed, [the bunch sprint] is coming."
Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and holds a master's degree in International Journalism. Since 2020, he has been the host of The TT Podcast, offering race analysis and rider interviews.
An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill, and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition, albeit out of 40 entrants.
