Del Toro edges Bol in wind-shortened UAE Tour opener as Milan crashes late

The UAE Tour is the second WorldTour stage race of the 2026 season, following the Tour Down Under in January. With the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe), Del Toro and Milan on the start line — despite the absence of riders such as Jonas Vingegaard and Olav Kooij — the race immediately promised a strong field.

Like last year, stage 1 finished with a slight uphill run to Liwa Palace — where Milan won in 2025 — and with strong desert winds forecast, it always looked set to be a tricky day.

The wind proved so strong that organisers shortened the stage to 118 kilometres, removing the loop over the narrow cycle path through the dunes to reduce the risk of sandstorms and crashes.

From the gun, the riders had a tailwind — and one lone attacker. Silvan Dillier, usually a key chaser for Alpecin-Deceuninck, went off the front solo and held a blistering pace (even after a puncture briefly disrupted his move). But the nervous tempo in the bunch — especially into roundabouts and direction changes — steadily ate into his advantage, and with the headwind sections taking their toll, Dillier was caught with 30 kilometres to go.

At 25 kilometres from the finish, Milan underlined his intentions by winning the intermediate sprint for points and bonus seconds. Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) also picked up bonus time, with the general classification in mind.

The peloton then rolled fairly calmly towards Liwa, but the pace lifted sharply inside the final five kilometres — always risky with a relatively fresh bunch. On the wide roads, the key point came at a roundabout around 1.5 kilometres from the line, where four riders crashed, including Milan. The Italian was left in discomfort, though he did make it to the finish.

Up front, Groupama-FDJ set things up as the road began to rise. Tulett kicked first, but Del Toro had the best acceleration and held everyone off, with Bol launching strongly in the final metres. Antonio Tiberi finished third, while Evenepoel crossed the line in 20th.