LUSH. What do you want, this big boy from Buja, full of talent, has chosen in his cycling career never to be banal. After an Olimpide with a world record final with the quartet, a World Championship on track and much more, he won his first road race as a professional at the age of 22 in front of his father Flavio and grandfather Eligio, who discovered he was there only after having crossed the finish line in the rain.
It happened on Tuesday 27 September, in Ludbreg, Croatia, at the end of the first stage of the short stage race that sees sprinters (Elia Viviani and Sacha Modolo among others) at the starting line, but also champions like two kings of the Tour present and past as Jonas Vingegaard and Geraint Thomas. The end? He tells us about it.
The emotion of Jonathan Milani: “Thanks to the team, perfect work”
Intoxicated with joy, while on the afternoon of Tuesday 27 September, after 235 km raced at an average of over 40 with two tough climbs in the final and in the rain in the last part of the race to complete everything, he returned to the hotel. «I am still incredulous, I have to thank my team, Bahrain Victorious for the great support. We wanted to keep the race together to try to win the stage in the final. Everyone supported me, Damiano Caruso and the others. Then in the final Matej Mohoric tried the solitary action exploiting the descent ».
The winner of the last Sanremo is a dragon when the road goes down, do you remember him down from the Poggio in March? Milan, behind, covered him perfectly up to less than half a kilometer from the finish line. «Matej had been attacking for a few kilometers, I was checking. But I was afraid that some sprinter would start and anticipate me so I broke the delay. I’m still incredulous. I dreamed of this day as a child. I made a dream come true ».
The progression of the Olympic and world champion in the quartet of the pursuit and the world vice-champion of the specialty has been imperative. A progression that took everyone out of the way, turning into a powerful sprint that continued well beyond the finish line. Behind Sacha Modolo (Bardiani) and Mirco Mastri (Eolo). In the group of the best also Jonaas Vingegaard (Jumbo), the winner of the Tour yesterday who returned to the races after the hangover in July at the Elysian fields, not Geraint Thomas who came within a minute. “I was incredulous, I kept pushing far beyond the finish line,” Jonathan told us. In the rain, soaked in water. And of joy.
Then the surprise. Beyond the barriers, she saw under an umbrella father Flavio, an excellent amateur in the nineties and grandfather Eligio, simply the two people for whom she began to dream of a day like this as a child.
Meanwhile, Mamma Elena was celebrating with the other grandparents in Buja and with her Team Friuli, the under 23 team now not by chance become the development team of Bahrain Victorious, a team with a strong Balkan matrix, for which the Croatian race has a great importance.
“I saw them there and I was gripped by a great emotion,” said Jonny of the meeting with his father and grandfather. And dad Flavio? “We wanted to surprise him, we succeeded – he said – We knew that he was in great shape, he was strong on the road and also on the track in this period”. Jonathan in three weeks in the hinterland of Paris, in the velodrome of the 2024 Games is aiming strongly for the World Cup. “In the meantime, I got my birthday present, Saturday will be 22 years old”, closes the new leader of the Tour of Croatia. Stop everyone: today in Zadar there may be another sprint …