Giro d’Italia sprinter Jonathan Milan fined and docked UCI points for slipstreaming on final stage

Giro d'Italia 2024 stage 21: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) in the Visma-Lease A Bike slipstream after his mechanical
Giro d'Italia 2024 stage 21: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) in the Visma-Lease A Bike slipstream after his mechanical (Image credit: Getty Images)

 Jonathan Milan’s bid to get back on terms with his fellow sprinters on the final stage of the Giro d’Italia after a broken chain ended with a second place behind Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), overall victory in the points competition and, much later, a fine and points penalty from the UCI.

Milan was unlucky enough to have his chain break just six kilometres from the finish in Rome, meaning that - particularly with the Lidl-Trek team car a relatively long way back in the line of support vehicles - a frantic pursuit was in order to try and take part in the sprint.

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.