Italian sprinter heads into second year on Lidl-Trek with sights set on opening stage win in Lille and a successful Classics campaign
(Image credit: Lidl-Trek)
Jonathan Milan will make one of the most highly-anticipated debuts of the 2025 season at the Tour de France, and as one of the top favourites to take the first yellow jersey on the flat opening stage in Lille.
After taking his first Grand Tour stage win at the Giro d'Italia in 2023, Milan reached new heights when he returned to his home race in May last year, scoring three more stage wins and defending his ciclamino points jersey simultaneously.
With this in mind and the seven flat stages on offer at the Tour, it was time Lidl-Trek gave their big sprinter his shot at the Tour de France.
The opening stage of the 2025 Tour in Lille sees an opportunity for the fast men to compete for the yellow jersey for the first time since Alexander Kristoff triumphed in a rainy Nice back in 2020. Milan will be one of several top sprinters vying for that elusive opening triumph.
"Already, from the beginning, we will have a nice opportunity. We will have to be more than ready like it's a World Championships," said Milan from Lidl-Trek's January training camp.
"For us, that will be the goal on day one, starting with the first stage, that is something that we really want to achieve."
Lille in northern France last featured as a finish town at the Tour six years before 2020 when a certain Marcel Kittel, who Milan is often compared to for his stature and sprinting style, powered his way to the line ahead of Kristoff on stage 4.
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Milan doesn't think he's yet at the level of the German powerhouse who rose to cycling stardom in quick time, scoring 14 Tour stage wins in just five years, but he will be hoping for similar success in Lille with the first maillot jaune, an achievement Kittel managed twice.
"Oh, I think he would beat me, come on," said Milan when asked about Kittel. "I mean, I think he's the kind of character that physically, we are pretty close to each other. And I like this comparison, but I don't think that I would have beat him."
Still, he names him as a sprinter he's trying to emulate in his young career, alongside Peter Sagan, with a maiden Tour giving him the opportunity to prove his sprinting prowess on the biggest stage.
Even seven months in advance, however, Milan is trying to stay grounded and not get carried away with the occasion.
"It's an important race, of course, and a new challenge. I really can't wait for the moment," said Milan.
"Obviously, I have really high ambitions, but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. So I'm taking it day by day and trying to focus on arriving there in the best shape possible."
Milan's run-up to the Tour will see him ride the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, Brugge-De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix, where he'll make up part of a stacked Lidl-Trek lineup alongside Pedersen. After that, he'll head to altitude and one more block of racing before the Grand Départ.
He'll be joined throughout the season with a lead-out of Simone Consonni, Edward Theuns and Jasper Stuyven, who should be with him at the Tour to chase stages and green as Lidl-Trek's main focus.
There won't be any partnership between him and Mads Pedersen, however, as the Dane heads to the Giro and Vuelta and Milan rides only at the Tour, confirming that the decision was "always me or Mads" in France, not both.
Refining his pure power
Jonathan Milan wins stage 4 at the Giro d'Italia 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Perhaps Milan's most impressive and obvious attribute as a sprinter is the incredible peak power that he can produce with his big frame at 6 ft 4 (193cm), eventually revealing how close he gets to that landmark 2000-watt-mark when he's at full tilt.
"If we tell you everything it's no more fun when you go to race," said Milan, drawing a laugh out of the gathered media before eventually revealing the colossal number.
"The peak is always around 1960, 1965 [watts], something like this."
But focusing on this, and indeed the peak of his rivals is not something Milan concerns himself with, aware that positioning and a strong lead-out will prove much more important come the moment he has to sprint for the line at the Tour.
"I don't care," replied Milan bluntly when asked if he knew what levels his rivals were hitting. "When you're there, you can know the peaks, but then you don't start saying that 'This guy has 101 more than me', you try to stay maybe on the wheel, and to go over him."
What's important for Milan now, heading into his fifth year at WorldTour level, is improving his efficiency on the bike after at times being sloppy with his energy output. Each time he launches he still looks raw in his effort, head bobbing and shoulder rocking. Of course, the power he puts out breeds this but if Milan can refine it, he'll become even more prolific than he already is.
Milan is aggressive when he sprints, often appearing as though he's about to break his bike he puts so much power through it. He's hoping this refined style at the Tour can ensure he has the best chance of bringing home multiple stages and yellow on day one as Lidl-Trek are hoping.
"I'm trying to improve a lot with my position, to move with the upper body as little as possible," explained Mian.
"I've done a lot of core and tried to work on stability to be able to push as much as you can out of the legs.
"It will be better for my sprint and more aero to get a bit lower. I mean, it's difficult for me, I don't know where to put my body sometimes," he laughs, "but I'll try to stay a bit lower and move as little as possible, to do as good a push as I can in that moment."
While he isn't focused on their power numbers, Milan has kept a close eye on Kooij, Merlier and Philipsen's sprinting style, with the latter two of the three set to be his key competitors come the Tour's sprint stages.
He credits the Soudal-QuickStep rider for his ability to come from behind and Philipsen for his timing in the finals. Both Belgians have won a stage of the Tour in their career already, Philipsen on nine occasions, so have the edge when it comes to experience over the Italian. But will they have the power to hold him off?
If Milan's Tour debut goes anything like Kittel's, then he'll be off home after five days with a stomach bug. But if he can summon up what the German did in his next four Grand Boucles, then he'll be en route to stage wins... And lots of them.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
