Tour de France 2025: Watt machine, Olympic gold, Giro d'Italia… four things to know about Jonathan Milan

He is one of the terrors, if not the terror, of sprints. Before being considered as such on the road, Jonathan Milan cut his teeth on the track. Olympic champion in the team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics, and bronze last summer in Paris in the same discipline with Italy, the 24-year-old runner has always shown his power.

Velodromes are an ideal setting for preparing before joining the peloton, something many of his peers have experienced before him. And it's paying off, as he arrives at this Tour de France as one of the top three sprinters in the world, along with Belgians Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step).

Christian Prudhomme didn't make many friends by wanting to dynamite the final stage of the Tour de France with the triple ascent of the Butte Montmartre , before seeing the Champs-Élysées. The director of the Grande Boucle even alienated almost all the sprinters, who will have to work hard one last time to hope to shine on the most beautiful avenue in the world.

"The Champs-Élysées, as a sprinter, is something you dream of, so for various reasons, it's a shame to see the route changed before my first Tour," Milan explained a few months ago.

Will he see this finale? As with all the " strong " riders in the peloton, the fight to reach the Arc de Triomphe on time will be a challenge in itself, with a very tough third week in the mountains. But to reassure himself, the Lidl-Trek sprinter can say that he has managed to bring the cyclamen jersey back to Rome at the Giro d'Italia in 2023 and 2024.

Indeed, donning the points classification jersey in the Italian capital is no small feat. It was at the 2023 Giro d'Italia that Milan made its mark, winning the second stage in San Salvo and finishing on the podium four more times in its first Grand Tour.

A year later, the imposing Italian added three more victories to his Giro d'Italia tally to adorn himself in purple. Although he didn't compete in the transalpine race this year, the Tolmezzo native took advantage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France, to send a message with his victory in Issoire : he'll be a force to be reckoned with in the Grande Boucle and in the race for the green jersey.

1.93 m and 84 kg: the foundations are laid. "Johnny Power" or the "Giant of Buja," as he is nicknamed, doesn't do things by halves. When Jonathan Milan stands on the pedals, in the style of Marcel Kittel or André Greipel, it's best to be in his wheelhouse.

In one of his victories at the 2024 Giro, Milan's power meters recorded a peak of 1,940 watts for a maximum speed of 75.4 km/h. These astonishing figures place him far ahead of Peter Sagan , for example, who clocked a maximum of 1,300 watts in the 2020 Giro, where the Slovak won the ^10th stage, and very close to track monsters such as Harrie Lavreysen, capable of breaking the 2,000 watt mark over a few hundred meters. Jonathan Milan's strength: being able to do it after 200 kilometers in his legs.