Tour de France, Jonathan Milan escapes a crash in the last km and wins the sprint to Valence

Second stage win (and second Italian success) at the Tour de France 2025 for Jonathan Milan. Lidl-Trek’s sprinter from Friuli finished ahead of everyone in the rain at the finish line in Valence after a 160.4-kilometer route that began in Bollène for stage number 17 of the Grande Boucle. It wasn&#8217t an easy finish for Milan, who was good at escaping a crash by several riders just at the height of the arch that signaled the start of the final 1,000 meters, and then went on to win on the treacherous wet asphalt.

Belgian Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished second, while Tobias Lund Andresen (Team Picnic PostNL) completed the day’s podium. Milan remains in first place in the points standings at 312, ahead of Tadej Pogacar’s (UAE Team Emirates XRG) 240 and Biniam Girmay’s (Intermarché-Wanty) 179, who was involved in the crash in the finale and arrived slumped at the finish line.

As for the day’s Top 10, the presence of two other Italians, Davide Ballerini of the XDS Astana Team and Alberto Dainese of Tudor Pro Cycling, fifth and sixth, respectively, should be noted. Nothing changes at the general classification level, as the fall occurred inside the so-called “Sprint Zone” corresponding to the last 5 km of the stage: the time was therefore neutralized.

In the general classification, therefore, remains first Tadej Pogacar, with 4’15” over Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and 9’03” over Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who in turn is first in the youth classification that awards the white jersey. Thursday will be the turn of the 18th stage of the Tour 2025: 171.5 kilometers from Vif to Courchevel, with the Col de la Loze climb waiting for the cyclists in the finale.