Milan and Del Toro take wins in Tirreno finale after Van der Poel training block and Philipsen crash

Jonathan Milan won the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. After an exciting middle section in which Mathieu van der Poel tested his legs ahead of Milan-San Remo, the stage 'simply' ended in a bunch sprint, where Jonathan Milan struck hard. The overall victory went to Isaac Del Toro.

As in previous years, Tirreno-Adriatico concluded with a stage to San Benedetto del Tronto. Along the way, the riders faced 143 kilometers and 1100 meters of climbing, with most of the elevation concentrated between kilometer 25 and 55, featuring the climbs of Montefiore dell’Aso (10.9 km at 3.4%) and Ripatransone (8.5 km at 4.6%).

On that final climb, Mathieu van der Poel decided to test his legs one last time on Sunday in preparation for Milan-San Remo. The Dutchman impressed with his attacks from the front, quickly tearing the peloton apart into multiple groups.

An early breakaway featuring Dries De Bondt, Roberto Gonzalez, and Xabier Azparren was still ahead of the peloton at that point, but the trio up front was reeled in with 92 kilometers remaining due to Van der Poel’s surges. The workout wasn’t over for MVDP yet: he stayed on the front of the peloton for kilometers, hammering away and preventing a chasing group with Van der Poel’s teammate Jasper Philipsen from catching up for a long time.

In the final sixty kilometers, all groups – except that of Arnaud De Lie – came back together, and the Tirreno finale still looked set to end in a bunch sprint. However, there was a small push from Visma | Lease a Bike beforehand: at the intermediate sprint in San Benedetto del Tronto, Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert took three and two bonus seconds respectively, pushing the American up to second place overall ahead of Giulio Pellizzari.

Esto es 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑳 𝑪𝑰𝑪𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑴𝑶 🔪💥

Van Aert lleva en volandas a Jorgenson para que Matteo bonifique y birle la 2ª plaza de la general de #TirrenoAdriatico a Pellizzari...

... ¡y Giulio se enrabieta y arranca! 🤪#LaCasaDelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/ZtkrTGS8nG

— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) March 15, 2026

Sprinters still get their chance: Milan wins, Philipsen crashes
In the final hour of racing, teams gradually organized for a bunch sprint including all the big names. Riders like De Bondt, Alessandro Covi, and Jonas Abrahamsen – the Norwegian still attacking in the last ten kilometers – tried to prevent a sprint finish, but were all brought back by the well-drilled lead-out trains of teams such as Visma | Lease a Bike, Picnic PostNL, and Groupama-FDJ United. Abrahamsen held on until about 500 meters before the line.

In the sprint, Philipsen and Magnier did not take part. Their chances went up in smoke following a nasty crash 1.5 kilometers from the finish. In San Benedetto del Tronto, Jonathan Milan then struck decisively thanks to his perfectly timed sprint train, which launched from 400 meters out. Sam Welsford and Laurenz Rex finished second and third respectively. The overall victory, as expected, went to Del Toro.