As often happens to him, he wins twice within a few minutes. First in the sprint, against a giant like the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen, one of the strongest in the world in the sprint, then an hour later the triumph on the team car that whizzed through the desert dedicating a voice message full of love to Enzo Cainero, the “beacon” of Friulian cycling, whose funeral was celebrated on Tuesday 31 January in Udine.
In short, Jonathan Milan continues his career as a champion. At the age of 22, the athlete from Bahrain Victorious is now someone who can punish anyone in the sprint, endowed with the right amount of power which, sprint after sprint, scares even more expert rivals more and more. Because, when you’re traveling in a group at almost 70 km/h, the experience is not trivial. Instead, the Friulian rider ran on experience on Tuesday too.
Cycling
Milan, first win of 2023
Antonio Simeoli
First ring
The stage was the Alula – Shalal Sijlyat of 184 km. Usual characteristics of a race in the desert: strong winds, difficulty in keeping the group together, fans and, six kilometers from the end, a compact group again. Average of over 52 km/h. Milan is helped in particular by his teammates Pasqualon and Dusan Rajovic, second in the opening stage of this small stage race, it must be said, a race in a fairytale setting. Then he has to go it alone.
In the desert with the sharks of the sprint. He doesn’t give up, he puffs, he suffers, he attacks. Yes. He has the lucidity to break the eggs in the basket at Team Jayco in Groenewegen and launches a very long sprint with Cees Bol (Astana) and Milan. With great power. Groenewegen tries to react, but the Friulian wins in the sprint. The first race of the season, at the second attempt. His third victory among the pros after the two pearls at the end of last season in the Tour of Croatia.
A special dedication
Then Milan wins again. By car, with a voicemail from Arabia. «A year ago I raced here and I understood that I wanted to come back here to win a stage, I succeeded thanks also to the help of my companions.
But I don’t want to dedicate this victory to them, to my family or to my fiancée, but to a great man who has been gone for a few days: Enzo Cainero». Incidentally, Jonny in May 2000 was still pounding in his mother Elena’s belly when Enzo Cainero in Buja, where he was at home, organized a part of the cycling Tricolors which that year he took to the whole region with the grand finale in Trieste.
In Buja, for that occasion, a cycling giant like Miguel Indurain arrived. Milan would have been born in that October. Yet yesterday, at the age of 22, born into a bread and cycling family, the Olympian paid homage to the manager. «He has done a lot for Friulian cycling, and not just for cycling, a lot for everything and everyone. I’m sick of saying it, but the victory is all for him. Enzo, thank you very much for everything».
And now? Well, Milan’s season has just begun and now the Buiese from Bahrain Victorious is awaited by another three stages in the desert. “I’ll always try, maybe even on Wednesday, even if on Thursday, in the most demanding stage, I’ll have to help captain Santiago Buitrago,” he explains.
The Dubai Tour, the Milan-San Remo or the Northern Classics with Flanders and Paris Roubaix, races in which the champion is particularly awaited, are still a long way off. First, for the “multitasking boy” the European track championships will arrive in Grenchen from 8 to 12 February.
There will be, in addition to the medals, important points to qualify the pursuit quartet for the Paris 2024 Olympics. But boy, you will have understood it has legs, head and heart. At will. —
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