Saudi Tour 2023 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

January 31, 2023

Saudi Tour 2023 – Stage 2 – Winter Park – Shalal Sijlyat Rocks : 184 km

The Saudi Tour was first held back in 1999, but it wasn’t until 2020 that it joined the UCI Asia Tour and really established itself as an international stage race. The five-day event is now run by ASO. Under the guidance of ASO the race has flourished and become one of the highest UCI-ranked (2.1) races in the Middle East.

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) edged to victory on the second stage of the Saudi Tour, beating race leader Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) with a bike throw to win at Shalal Sijlyat Rocks.

The Italian launched his sprint early, coming out of the wheel of the Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan), who lay behind Groenewegen on the run-in.

Milan hit the front first with Groenewegen quick to respond, but the Italian had too much finishing speed for the Dutchman, just about hanging on to take the third victory of his career with Bol rounding out the podium in third.

“I finished last year with 2 victories in the CRO Race,” Milan, who is an Olympic gold medallist on the track, said after the stage. “My goal was to start the new season with victories here, not just for me but for the team.

“Yesterday we tried with Dušan [Rajović] and he finished second with nice teamwork. I had some problems in the last kilometre with my cassette and I couldn’t help my teammate in the final. Today they helped me and I’m super happy with this result. All the team supported me and I’m super happy and super thankful.

“It was super hard. The first 80km the wind was coming from the back, then we had crosswind, headwind and again crosswind in the final here.”

The 22-year-old’s win concluded a big in-stage turnaround for his Bahrain team, with much of the squad – including GC leader Santiago Buitrago – caught out in the crosswinds, which hit hard and split the peloton at 30km from the finish.

By that point, the early break of Enekoitz Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Manabu Ishibashi (JCL Team Ukyo) had long been caught, with Jayco-AlUla, Bahrain Victorious, Uno-X and Team DSM all putting in work at the front of the peloton.

An intermediate sprint along the way saw Max Walscheid (Cofidis) grab a few bonus seconds to edge closer to Groenewegen’s lead, but the carnage would soon come as the race route changed direction into the wind.

It was Groenewegen’s team who took charge at the front, helping split the peloton for over 20km before the chase group, Buitrago included, got back on inside the final 10km.

Bahrain’s new Serbian signing Rajović finished second on the opening stage but was out the back with five kilometres to go, having helped team leader Buitrago get back on, while an ill Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) would also take no part in the final sprint, dropping away with four kilometres to go.

All that was left before the stage finish was to bring back solo attacker Mathias Norsgaard (Movistar), who jumped away alone with eight kilometres to go.

Jayco-AlUla were fully in charge when Norsgaard was caught, with Zdenek Stybar and Luka Mezgec once again leading out Groenewegen to the finish.

Bol, right on his wheel, decided to go long on the slightly uphill run, jumping at a mammoth 300 metres from the line. Milan quickly followed, while Groenewegen’s reaction was a touch slower as he sought a gap along the barriers and past Mezgec.

As Bol faded, it was a head-to-head battle for the line, with the stage 1 winner coming from behind and almost drawing level. But Milan had it on the line, grabbing his first win of 2023 by a slim margin.

He now moves up into second overall, though still six seconds behind Groenewegen, who retains the overall lead heading into the puncheur’s uphill finish of stage 3. Walscheid is in third at 12 seconds.

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