The parcours of stage 13 of Giro d’Italia 2024 from Riccione were as flat as a pancake and a mass sprint finish was expected in the finish town of Cento after 179 kilometers of fast bike racing. The Giro d’Italia peloton would cross the Rubicon River during today’s stage and war would possibly be declared between riders in the Giro d’Italia in a similar manner as when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in ancient times. 

A three-man breakaway group set out on the very optimistic mission of cheating the fast sprinters in the Giro d’Italia of a victory in today’s stage 13. It was three Italians who joined forces at the front. The attack group participants were Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti Kometa), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), and Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane).

The front group built a lead of more than two minutes while being kept on a tight leash by the peloton in which the sprinter teams were carefully monitoring the situation to avoid missing out of a stage victory in an additional stage designed for sprinter success.

The breakaway group had an advantage of 01:50 minutes with 100 kilometers of the stage remaining. Things were looking good for the sprinter teams in the main peloton and the peloton was headed by the Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceunink teams.

The Giro riders entered windy territory and while the front trio pressed on relentlessly, a split occurred in the main peloton with sixty kilometers left, which caused echelons to form. The speed was intense and major sprint aces such as Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) were caught behind in the second echelon group. This was definitely not the time to get dropped.

Ineos-Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates were pulling hard at the front of echelon group 1. They were hoping some of the General Classification challengers had been dropped from group 1 while also working to improve the odds of a stage victory for their own sprinters.

The intense action in the peloton echelon groups had caused the speed to increase significantly. This also resulted in the breakaway trio getting reeled in by the chasers. The front trio participants were not in luck today.

Later, Dries de Pooter (Intermarche-Wanty) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) launched a new attack and had fought their way to a lead of approximately thirty seconds with thirty kilometers of the stage remaining. 

A crash occurred in the peloton with twenty kilometers left of the stage. The crash brought down approximately seven riders, including Nairo Quintana (Movistar). All riders got back on their bikes, but the windy conditions and the anticipated mass sprint stage finale caused a lot of stress in the peloton.

De Pooter later left his breakaway companion behind in a desperate solo effort against all the sprinter teams in the reunited main peloton. Twelve kilometers remained and the riders were nervous.

De Pooter was caught by the hungry peloton with nine kilometers left to contest. Ineos-Grenadiers, Soudal-QuickStep, Groupama-FDJ, and Lidl-Trek were active at the front. UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain Victorious joined the forceful fun.

The riders entered the highly technical final five kilometers of the stage. 

Jayco-Alula and Lidl-Trek set a fast pace with two kilometers left. Lidl-Trek took control. Jonathan Milan looked fast.

Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) launched a long sprint, but Milan countered. Gaviria had launched his sprint too early as usual. Jonathan Milan won stage 13 in a mass sprint across the finish line in Cento. Cofidis’ Stanislaw Aniolkowski took second place, while Phil Bauhaus rounded out the stage podium for Team Bahrain-Victorious.

Julius Caesar is said to have dined with Sallust, Hirtius, Lucius Cornelius Balbus, Gaius Oppius, and Sulpicius Rufus on the night after his crossing of the Rubicon River. Today’s stage winner will likely be dining with his teammates and celebrating his stage victory, without expecting retaliation from rival sprinters in coming stages of this year’s Giro d’Italia.

Tadej Pogacar remains general classification leader ahead of Daniel Martinez and Geraint Thomas before tomorrow’s important stage 14 of Giro d’Italia 2024 – a 31.2-kilometer individual time trial that is expected to have significant effect on the General Classification in this year’s Giro. 

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete race coverage from Giro d’Italia 2024.

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