The manner in which Milan (Lidl-Trek) took his tenth win of the season was nothing less than world class. Mathieu van der Poel, for whom the profile was too easy, just like for all the other rivals in the overall classification, rode the leadout for Philipsen. The world champion's rear wheel was already holding Milan 200 metres before the finish line. When van der Poel went out, Milan simply pulled away. Philipsen, who was riding on his rear wheel, came out of the slipstream to the same height, but not past the Italian.
Axel Zingle sprinted to third place for Cofidis, followed by Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla). However, the two clashed immediately after the finish line and crashed. Merlier, who escaped the crash with abrasions, then threw nasty looks in the direction of the Dutchman, who has had a reputation as a sprint bully since his crash at the Tour of Poland 2020, where he pushed Fabio Jakobsen into the barriers. However, Merlier was ultimately at fault, who ultimately lost his place and was relegated to the back of the group. The crash had more drastic consequences for Groenewegen than for Merlier. The Dutchman from Jayco-AlUla broke his collarbone and had to abandon the race.
Milan is already looking ahead to the time trial
"It was a very difficult day today, although the stage wasn't particularly long," said winner Milan. "The finale was tricky. It was different than normal because it was slightly uphill. I'm glad that we started the race well here. Now I will recover as well as possible to deliver a good time trial tomorrow."
In addition to two sprint stages at the Deutschland Tour, Milan also won the prologue. At just under three kilometres, it was significantly shorter than the 15.4 kilometres that await on the second stage of the Renewi Tour, but in his top form, the 23-year-old can also be expected to achieve a top 10 finish. However, a victory is probably unrealistic given the many specialists who are also at the start.
Renewi Tour 2024 results - the top 10 of stage 1
- Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 3:41:01
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Axel Zingle (Cofidis) +0:00
- Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:00
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
- Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Gerben Thijssen (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
- Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:00
- Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
- Davide Bomboi (TDT-Unibet) +0:00
The current standings in the overall standings
- Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 3:40:51
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:04
- Axel Huens (TDT-Unibet) +0:04
- Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB) +0:05
- Axel Zingle (Cofidis) +0:06
- Jordy Bouts (TDT-Unibet) +0:07
- Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:10
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:10
- Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ) +0:10
- Gerben Thijssen (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:10
This is how the 1st stage of the Renewi Tour 2024 went
Five breakaways dominated the day and rode ahead of the peloton for a long time. Ceriel Desal, Loic Vliegen (both Bingoal WB), Lars Craps (Team Flanders-Baloise) as well as Axel Huens and Jordy Bouts (both TDT-Unibet) were only caught 17 kilometres from the finish and thus prevented the first battle between the favourites for the overall classification that some had expected.
Shortly after the breakaway, ten riders crashed on the rough Belgian concrete, including Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan), who were thus handicapped going into the impending bunch sprint. Nothing happened in the final kilometres and there were no attacks.
