{"id":704614,"date":"2026-05-30T16:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704614\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T16:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:20:11","slug":"what-happened-in-milan-should-never-happen-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704614\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat happened in Milan should never happen again\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\u201cWhat happened in Milan should never happen again,\u201d Allocchio told Cycling News<\/a>. \u201cThe Milan circuit was safe.\u201dRCS refuse to reopen Rome debate<\/p>\n

Rome is due to host the Giro finale on the same circuit used last year, giving organisers a key argument against any late challenge from the peloton. \u201cThe Rome circuit is exactly the same as last year, so the riders and teams know it and have raced on it,\u201d Allocchio said.<\/p>\n

The safety debate has followed the Giro deep into its final week, but RCS\u2019 position has hardened. Milan was treated as a compromise in the moment. Rome, they argue, is different.<\/p>\n

Allocchio accepted that riders have a right to raise safety concerns, but questioned where the line should be drawn if sprint stages are repeatedly challenged during the race itself. \u201cI understand the riders have concerns about safety, but what are we going to do? Never have sprint finishes?\u201d he said. \u201cWe accepted the riders\u2019 request in Milan, and they thanked us, but it won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Vingegaard, the final weekend should be about completing his Giro victory and adding the maglia rosa to his Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana titles. Instead, the Milan row has left another debate running alongside the fight for Rome: how much control riders should have once a stage is already underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vibe flopped\u201dThe Milan decision did not only frustrate organisers. Brent Copeland<\/a>, the Jayco-AlUla team manager and AIGCP president, said the episode damaged the spectacle for people watching from outside cycling\u2019s usual bubble.<\/p>\n

\u201cRCS had done a great job organising everything for the Giro to return to central Milan,\u201d Copeland told Cycling News. \u201cThere were a lot of special guests and partners who were all invited to the race on Sunday. Everyone was watching, but then the last lap was neutralised, the vibe flopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confusion was immediate. The race continued, but the GC fight had effectively been removed from the final circuit. For seasoned cycling fans, the distinction was messy enough. For guests, sponsors and potential investors, Copeland said it was even harder to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were asking me what was going on,\u201d he said. \u201cI tried to explain, but people thought it was like the Safety Car in F1, even though the race continued. There were people there who could be interested in investing in the sport, and suddenly they were confused about what was going on. At the end of the day, cycling suffered last Sunday in Milan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Magnier has emerged as the premier sprinter at the 2026 Giro d’Italia<\/p>\n

Sprint finish or rolling negotiation?<\/p>\n

The row has left the Giro with an awkward question before Rome. Riders want greater influence over safety. Organisers want decisions made before the flag drops, not after the race has reached the city centre.<\/p>\n

Copeland pointed back to the 2007 Giro, when rider protest also disrupted the race, and said cycling has still not found a clean way to handle these flashpoints. \u201cIt\u2019s now 17 years later, and a similar thing happened, so we\u2019ve not learnt from it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His preference is for earlier discussions and clearer agreements before the peloton reaches dangerous or contested sections. \u201cDiscussions about safety on specific stages need to take place before the race, and let\u2019s communicate things better,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cLet\u2019s not destroy cycling\u2019s image, with riders going back to the car during the race and no one understanding what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really encourage the GC riders to get together before the race and certain stages to agree to stay out of trouble, but let the race go on and let the sprinters do their race,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

That is now the pressure point for Rome. The maglia rosa should be settled by then, the sprinters will want their final stage, and RCS have no appetite for another mid-race stand-off. Milan left the Giro with a safety argument and an image problem. Rome is where organisers want the racing to take the final word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat happened in Milan should never happen again,\u201d Allocchio told Cycling News. \u201cThe Milan circuit was safe.\u201dRCS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,342837,784,163619,6495,85],"class_list":["post-704614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brent-copeland","tag-cycling","tag-giro-ditalia","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}