Jonathan Milan storms to Tour de France Singapore Criterium victory to cap off stellar season

The day’s earlier team time trial, held on the same 2.4km city circuit, was cancelled, such was the intensity of the rainstorm in the Southeast Asian city-state.

Despite the weather, Milan was able to show his full sprinting force, as he outsprinted Girmay in the final 200 metres.

Tour de France ambassador and stage win record holder Mark Cavendish was on hand to congratulate the Italian and even show his hand at punditry, interviewing the criterium winner after the race.

Singapore brings the storm

Once the heavy downpours, thunder and lightning had ceded, the 40-strong peloton rolled out on Connaught Drive alongside the Esplanade park and the country’s National Gallery in the heart of the city.

Attacks came thick and fast as the riders swept through Singapore’s CBD, especially from the pair of continental-level squads Team Singapore and ASC Monsters Indonesia.

At 2.4km long, the riders would tackle 25 laps of the course that took them across the Singapore river on two occasions, first the Anderson Bridge as they entered Downtown, and then the Esplanade Bridge with the backdrop of the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Esplanade theatre - both renowned for their unique architecture - making for a unique circuit race setting.

The first rider to make a move stick, though, was a Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG, just not the one who took the maillot jaune this summer, but instead experienced domestique Domen Novak was the one accelerating off the front of the peloton.

Further back down the bunch and the inclement weather was playing havoc for several riders as both Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Girmay suffered punctures.

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With 17 laps to go, Novak was caught, and a lead group sat 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the bunch.

At just over 30km remaining, the skies of the South-East Asian island nation brightened. And just as the weather improved, the peloton regrouped, with Team Singapore’s Arfan Bin Faisal seizing the opportunity to launch an attack.

With 10km remaining, the intermediate sprint arrived and Philipsen narrowly edged Milan to claim the honours.

Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Ivan Romeo (Movistar) were among the next aggressors as the laps ticked down.

A five-rider group of O’Connor Romeo, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Healy, and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) extended their advantage as the criterium moved into its final 10km, helped by the drying roads.

However, as is often the case with criterium racing, a late acceleration in the bunch saw Healy, who took off from the group in trademark style as the bell went, caught with 900 metres remaining.

That left the Tour de France’s fastest riders to duke it out for the honours in Singapore and Milan, as was the case with July’s maillot vert competition, came out on top.