Jonathan Milan wins stage 1 of the Renewi Tour(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
Tim Merlier and Dylan Groenewegen crash on the end line(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
Milan holds off the cost behind from Philipsen and Zingle(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) took the win on the opening stage of the Renewi Tour, getting the higher of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on the uphill run to the road in Bilzen.
Axel Zingle (Cofidis) rounded out the rostrum in third place on a stage marred by a late crash involving sprinter Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike) and a fall on the end line for Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), who completed fourth and fifth.
Milan’s tenth win of the season noticed him discover the right place inside the ultimate kilometre, driving on the wheel of Philipsen’s lead-out man Mathieu van der Poel. The Italian, who holds the primary chief’s jersey of the race, launched the dash first with Philipsen subsequent in line.
Philipsen had the velocity to hit the wind and transfer alongside Milan however wasn’t in a position to go clear within the remaining run to the road so Milan held on to win.
Additional again it was Frenchman Zingle who picked up his 18th podium inserting of the season, whereas additional again Groenewegen and Merlier hit the deck onerous as they crossed the end line after a coming collectively.
Milan now leads the race by 4 seconds from Philipsen, whereas Axel Heuns (TDT-Unibet) lies in third, stage on time with the Belgian.
