Some might say that Jonathan Milan’s second stage victory in the 2025 Tour de France was lucky. That managing to stay upright in a technical finale, when the roads were slick with moisture and there were riders tumbling like dominoes either side of him, was a lottery. That there were fewer sprinters to go up against the Lidl-Trek man because of that mass crash inside the final kilometre on the rain-soaked tarmac to Valence. But luck can also be made.
The towering Italian sprinter was in front of the touch of wheels – that felt inevitable in those torrid conditions – because of his team’s work to position him into the final corner. They may have lost each other on the roundabout that came next but crucially, Milan was where he needed to be because his teammates had put him there. In fact, there was nothing lucky about it: this was part of a well-executed technique by the American squad who are proving themselves as the team to beat in these types of finishes.
“In the final it was a bit chaotic but the guys always tried to position me as best they could. You can plan how to do it but it is always difficult to arrive there. It is not a PlayStation and in the end they delivered me in the best spot they could,” Milan smiled at the finish line, resplendent in his green jersey after scooping up another 61 points for the points classification in today's stage. “With this I achieved this big goal that was for all of us today. I know I didn't have a specific lead out but guys did a super job until the last kilometre, this is not a solo victory.”
In fact, the 24-year-old only really got the chance to sprint at all today because of the work that Lidl-Trek did to control the gap to the four-man breakaway and the attacks from the peloton from others who wanted to bridge across to it. While they had some assistance from the likes of Soudal-Quick Step – who hoped for a chance for victory with Tim Merlier – Milan’s team did the lion’s share of pulls on the front of the bunch. Especially notable was Quinn Simmons who spent some impressive time in the wind despite the difficult circumstances that come with racing in wet weather.
“Today, the guys controlled the race from the beginning of the stage. They pulled on the front, brought me back when I dropped and did a good place on the second climb too,” Milan reflected after the stage. “When Wout van Aert attacked they then still did a steady pace, caught him on the descent and supported me by bringing me bottles. Mentally. They were also telling me: ‘you can do it.’”
It’s clear that morale in the Lidl-Trek camp is at an all-time high in this Tour de France and that spirits would not be dampened by the summer rain. Just moments after Milan’s win, his teammate Toms Skujiņš came to the team bus singing “Jonny is on fire,” before embracing the likes of Edward Theuns in a gritty, muddy hug.
“I knew it was going to be a hard day as we knew it would be a big battle for the break. They tested us by going hard on the first climb and we had to chase. In the last 5km I was praying nobody crashes and we win. We gave it our all, it was not easy for sure. 'Jonny on fire' is one of the songs we sing now. Quinn was the man of the match,” he smiled at a gaggle of reporters afterwards.
Lidl-Trek’s sports director, Grégory Rast, sung a similar tune to Skujiņš, praising the work of his riders who all sacrificed their own chances in order to make Milan’s victory possible: “It was hard as it was a really strong break, Ineos tried to do something in the middle of the race too so it was a lot of work but mission accomplished,” the 45-year-old grinned. “Quinn was exceptional, he was unbelievably strong. You need these guys to keep the breakaway under control.”
Rast continued to say that “anything can happen” in a chaotic final like we saw on stage 17 of the Tour de France. It’s true that bike racing, especially in the rain, is one of the most unpredictable, uncontrollable, dangerous sports in the world. A small lapse of concentration or a dose of misfortune can ruin everything in a split second. However, this is also a sport of margins.
The risks of something going wrong will always be there – and it’s true that sometimes you can do nothing about it – but there are ways to minimise them. This is what Lidl-Trek are good at: they control the controllables. They did so by putting all their resources on the front to bring the breakaway back and by ensuring that Milan was at the front of the race when things were at their most volatile, and they were rewarded for it. Of course, there’s always a sprinkle of good fortune involved in being able to pull this off, but Milan’s stage 17 win was far from just lucky. It was deserved for a team who threw everything at it.
