Jonathan Milan wins 'painful' third Tirreno Adriatico stage 7 as Isaac del Toro takes General Classification title

Jonathan Milan sprinted to his third consecutive Tirreno Adriatico stage 7 victory as Isaac del Toro took the General Classification title.

The Lidl-Trek rider won from a perfectly-timed sprint finish ahead of Ineos Grenadiers Sam Welsford and Soudal QuickStep's Laurenz Rex, who came out ahead of the rest of the peloton.

Despite being caught in a late crash in the last 3km, Del Toro rolled across as the GC victor ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma–Lease a Bike) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe).

After the victory, Milan on TNT said: "It was painful. But there is happiness. It was a tough week, tough day. I suffered on the climbs, and today also was absolutely not easy. I have to say thanks to all of my teammates.

"They were always there for me in the race. It was really tough yesterday and they did everything for me. We were missing Simone (Consonni) and Max (Walscheid), but we did so well to get the win."

Del Toro had stamped his authority on the uphill stage in Camerino to take his first stage win of the tour on Saturday, holding on to the blue jersey into the final day with a 42-second lead on Pellizzari, who had been struggling with a tendon issue, as Jorgenson trailed in third by just one second.

But after stage 6 featured several climbs, Sunday’s flatter affair was a welcome change and prompted several breakaway groups en route from Civitanova March all ahead of a final sprint finish along the streets of San Benedetto del Tronto.

An early break from trio Xabier Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), Dries De Bondt (Jayco-AlUla), and Roberto Carlos González (Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali) set an early tone for the race, building from a 40-second gap to over four minutes by the end of the first 10km.

The trio held a gap over the peloton until the first climb of the day with 100km to go, seeing their advantage evaporate to just over two minutes, as the peloton turned up the heat.

And yet it was not until the final climb of the race, the 9km Ripatransone, that the peloton bridged the gap, flipping the stage on its head.

It was Alpecin-Premier Tech, led by Mathieu van der Poel, who commanded the chase, flying up the 5% average gradient, leaving 30 riders to fall by the wayside, including Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarche), Milan, and Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost).

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), who had originally fallen behind the chase pack up the Ripatransone, managed to claw back some time before the descent, sticking with the Van der Poel-led front group, who built an advantage of over 20 seconds with 90km to go.

And with that, the descent began, with the lead group’s advantage oscillating around the 20-second mark until the group found themselves at the start of a five-lap circuit of San Benedetto del Tronto.

Over the next 10km, the chasing group reined in the front pack, despite Van der Poel’s best efforts to push the pace, as Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led the chasers to provide support for Del Toro up front.

Meanwhile, De Lie’s day went from bad to worse, having fallen behind on the Ripastrone, it was then mechanical issues which saw his deficit grow larger as he tried to keep himself in contention.

Trailing by nearly two minutes, De Lie was joined by his team's Huub Artz, Liam Slock and George Zimmermann, as well as Alexandre Balmer (Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali) and Luca Mozzato (Tudor), who worked together to reduce the deficit to 47 seconds behind the peloton.

Elsewhere, the intermediate sprint provided its own drama as Jorgenson crossed the line first ahead of Van Aert to take the full five points, as Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) trailed to take just two points, and not the necessary points to pinch the points jersey from Del Toro.

With the bonus seconds, Jorgenson also leapfrogged Pellizzari in the GC to take second place with 30km to go.

The De Lie group then completed their hellish chase with two laps of the circuit to go to rejoin the peloton, and finally, the race was back together and shutting down any attempts to break away until the closing stages of seven days of epic racing.

With 7km to go, the pace increased as Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) was led out by his teammate, with no one joining him up front, taking a 10-second advantage which was held into the final 1km to go.

A crash in the final 2.5km saw Philpsen go down, but he regained his spot in the peloton quickly, while Del Toro rolled home due to the crash coming in the final 3km.

The engine of Abrahamsen still managed to hold a lead until the final metres as Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) tried to inject a final sprint, but it was Milan who hung on as he was dragged to the front and closed out a perfectly timed run in a bunch sprint.

It means the Italian has achieved his third consecutive stage 7 victory at the event ahead of Welsford and Rex as Del Toro won the overall GC, becoming the youngest winner since Thomas Dekker in 2006.

Result

Stage 7: Civitanova March > San Benedetto del Tronto (142km)

1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 3:04:54
2. Sam Welsford (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers
3. Laurenz Rex (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep
4. Oded Kogut (Isr) NSN
5. Pavel Bittner (Cze) Picnic-Post NL
6. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon-CMA CGM
7. Anders Foldager (Den) Jayco-AlUla
8. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto-Intermarche
9. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta
10. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Esp) Movistar, all at the same time

General Classification

1. Isaac del Toro (Mex), UAE Team Emirates - XRG, in 28:02:14
2. Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Visma-Lease a Bike, +40s
3. Giulio Pelizzari (Ita), Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +42s
4. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor), Uno-X Mobility, +1:14
5. Primož Roglič (Slo), Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:21s
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita), Lidl-Trek, +1:26
7. Santiago Buitrago (Col), Bahrain Victorious, +1:49
8. Ben Healy (Ire), EF Education-EasyPost, +1:55
9. Magnus Sheffield (USA), Ineos Grenadiers, +2:02
10. Alessandro Pinarello (Ita) NSN Cycling, +2:06