Even Pogacar's crazy plans can't stop the sprint, as Merlier disrupts Milan's hat-trick in UAE

After a bunch sprint in the fourth stage, we could expect the same thing in Friday's stage. The course was even flatter, and no echelons were expected this time. As a result, it was thought to be a relatively dull stage, but as always, no stage with Tadej Pogacar is without excitement. After a breakaway group had pulled away from the peloton, the Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates - XRG and his compatriot and teammate Domen Novak quickly caught up to the leading group.

Defending champion Lennert Van Eetvelt and INEOS climber Victor Langelotti reacted attentively and followed the GC leader. This created a leading group of eleven men, a wonderful mix of pro-continental and absolute top riders. Djorde Djuric (Solution Tech - Vini Fantini), the wearer of the black intermediate sprint jersey, and Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty) were also upfront.

The men in front built up a lead of 2:45 minutes as a group, but the peloton did not like it. They kept Pogacar within sight and did not want to take risks with the world champion. He did win an intermediate sprint along the way. Still, with about 40 kilometers to go, the adventure was over: the peloton caught up with the eleven, so the winner of Wednesday was allowed to spend the last hour in the peloton.

This meant the peloton could still make their way to the sprint at a leisurely pace. In the final kilometers, the riders picked up the pace. After the work of the GC teams, it was mainly Soudal Quick-Step and Bahrain Victorious who were at the front. It was still relatively uneventful, but suddenly, there was a nasty crash of about ten riders just outside the last three kilometers, including Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Nobody remained on the ground, but the crash happened at high speed. Pablo Castrillo was held up as well: he had to chase.

After that chaotic moment, it was time for the sprinters. Tudor did everything possible to get Arvid de Kleijn back on his feet, but in the final kilometer, Jonathan Milan took the lead. Luka Mezgec tried to surprise the sprinters while a new crash occurred in the background. However, Merlier beat Milan in the sprint, who came in third behind his compatriot Matteo Malucelli.