Jonathan Milan brings the heat on debut to win wet Tour de France Singapore Criterium
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(From right) Jonathan Milan came in first, followed by Biniam Girmay (second) and Dorian Godon (fifth) in the professional race of the Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium 2025 on Nov 2.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Follow topic:
- Jonathan Milan won the Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium in wet conditions, beating Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen in a sprint finish.
- The rain led to the cancellation of the team time trial but the criterium race proceeded.
- Arfan Faisal was the top Singaporean, calling his performance a boost for the upcoming SEA Games in Thailand in December.
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SINGAPORE – Some of the world’s elite cyclists who gathered in Singapore for the weekend had expected the 2025 Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium to be a battle under sweltering conditions.
But on Nov 2, there was a late twist as the heat made way for pouring rain and cool weather in the late afternoon, about 1½ hours before proceedings.
Amid the rain trickling down, it was Italy’s Jonathan Milan who turned up the heat on the wet road as he edged out Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen in a thrilling sprint finish between the past three Tour de France green jersey winners.
Milan is the fourth different victor here in as many editions, while Girmay was runner-up and Philipsen, who won the Singapore race in 2023 and was runner-up in 2024, finished third.
Milan said that the weather was a surprise as all the riders had talked about how it was going to be a race held in scorching heat, adding that this made for a more difficult race.
“I’m really happy to have won here... it’s my first time racing in Singapore, so it feels really special to take the victory,” said the 25-year-old, who secured two stage wins on the 2025 Tour de France and sealed the coveted green jersey in July to become the first Italian to claim the points classification since Alessandro Petacchi in 2010.
“I have to say that I was not expecting this weather. The last couple of days were pretty hot, but today for the first hour of the race it was raining a lot and that can sometimes influence the race.
“But the road was pretty good and it was clean and I was able to ride really well on the bike.”
The pouring rain, which was accompanied by thunder and lightning in the area, had forced the day’s earlier team time trial – scheduled on the same 2.45km city circuit – to be cancelled.
After a discussion with riders, organisers decided to proceed with the professional criterium race.
Irishman Ben Healy looked to have successfully made a breakaway at the start of the 25-lap, 61.25km race. But he was then caught by the charging peloton about 900m from the finish line before Milan, Girmay and Philipsen fought to the end in a dramatic finish.
Girmay, who improved on his fourth-placed finish here in the previous edition, said: “In this kind of circumstances, it is always tricky, especially if it’s criterium. It’s a short lap... but for myself, it’s pretty good (that it rained). Because yesterday we did some tests and the humidity was so high, and I couldn’t recover for two, three hours.
“So I’m happy today the weather was like this.”
(From left, foreground) Jasper Philipsen, Jonathan Milan and Ben Healy in the start line in the Professional Criterium Race during Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium 2025.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
On the result, the 25-year-old Eritrean
Milan, who is the Tokyo Olympic champion in 2021 and Paris 2024 bronze medallist in the track cycling team pursuit event, was racing for the first time in Singapore as he represented Lidl-Trek.
After suffering from jet lag since his arrival earlier in the week, he will spend the next few days to see more of the usually-sunny island before travelling to Japan to compete in the Tour de France Saitama Criterium.
In the longer term, he hopes to be back to defend the title and become the first two-time winner here.
Milan said: “I like it a lot here. All in all, the race was good, was perfect. We had high speeds and I am pleased with the win, so I will be happy to come back next year.”
Meanwhile, Arfan Faisal finished as the top Singaporean as the 2025 national criterium champion came in 22nd in the field, ahead of compatriots Yeo Boon Kiak, Thomas Tong and Eamon Lim.
Arfan was pleased with his performance and called it a boost ahead of the road race event which he will be a part of at the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand.
The 25-year-old, who made his debut at the Cambodia Games in 2023, said: “Any chance I get, I love racing with the pros and I love doing it in front of a home crowd and seeing all the locals supporting us was exciting.
“There’s always something to improve in terms of fitness and skills, so I am definitely going to be working on that and I am really looking forward to doing my best at the Games.”
