Milan Powers to Italian Road Race Title in Cuneo as Lidl-Trek Control From Gun to Line
Jonathan Milan has claimed the 2026 Italian National Road Race Championship, sweeping to the tricolore jersey with a commanding sprint in Cuneo after his Lidl-Trek team controlled the race from start to finish. The 25-year-old went into the day as the overwhelming favourite and delivered exactly the result his squad had built towards, rewarding a full afternoon of work with the kind of finishing speed that has made him the fastest man in the bunch.
It was not a straightforward win. A determined early breakaway forced Lidl-Trek to chase for the best part of 220 kilometres, and Milan admitted afterwards that the hilly opening had pushed him to his limit before the race ever flattened out. "I think at one point they believed in me more than I believed in myself, because on the first climbs I was really at my limit," he said. "I didn't know if I would make it or how the race would unfold. In the end I managed to hang on, and even then it was far from certain it would finish in a sprint."
Once the break was reeled in, the outcome rarely looked in doubt. Lidl-Trek massed at the front to set up the bunch gallop, and Milan only had to do what he does best in the closing metres, surging clear to add the national title to the Giro d'Italia stage win he took in Rome earlier in the season. "My teammates gave absolutely everything to bring me to the sprint today," he said. "I only had to sprint at the end, but they spent 220 kilometres pulling. The way they supported me today was simply unbelievable."
The victory carries a personal weight that went beyond the result. Milan dedicated the win to every rider who rode in service of him and to Lidl-Trek general manager Luca Guercilena, who is set to step aside after this year's Tour de France following a 16-year tenure. "We've shared some very important years together and experienced a journey I'll never forget," the Italian said. He also took his turn carrying bottles and ice for teammates during the race, a gesture he described as "the normal thing to do" given how hard the squad was working around him.
Milan was reflective on a Giro d'Italia that did not entirely meet his and Lidl-Trek's expectations, framing the national title and his Rome stage win as proof of the team's resilience. "It's clear that things didn't go exactly as we had imagined, but we never stopped believing," he said. "Mistakes are part of the journey; the important thing is to learn from them and keep improving."
The tricolore jersey now travels with Milan to Barcelona for the Grand Départ, where he will line up as one of the marquee sprinters of the 2026 Tour de France. With the green jersey competition firmly in his sights, the new Italian champion arrives at the season's biggest race in exactly the form his rivals feared. "I'm still struggling to realise it," he said, "but this has been one of my dreams since I started riding a bike, ever since I first watched cycling on television. It's a dream come true."