Jonathan Milan wins second straight UAE Tour stage, but sees brother Matteo crash in chaotic sprint

There had been some doubt, but stage 4 of the UAE Tour showed that Milan hadn’t suffered too much from his crash on the opening day. The Italian powered to victory with clear authority, and with Friday’s pan-flat stage on the menu, it looked difficult to beat him again.

What seemed set to be a quiet day turned into chaos from kilometre zero. Nervousness in the bunch led to an early crash involving three riders: Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) hit the deck along with sprinters Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling) and Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL). After teammate Fabio Jakobsen had already crashed heavily on stage 4, it was another setback for Picnic PostNL. Van Uden reported to the medical car but was able to continue — though it left the Dutch team’s sprint options even thinner.

Out of the disorder, a breakaway of three formed: Gianni Moscon (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) went clear with Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Silvan Dillier (Alpecin–Premier Tech).

The Swiss rider Dillier had already been active earlier in the race and, thanks to the intermediate sprints, wore the black jersey for the intermediate sprint classification. On Friday, it got even better for him: he took the intermediate sprints again and even moved into first place in the points standings on the road. Holding that advantage looked unlikely, however, because Milan only needed a top-three finish to move past him.

The trio enjoyed a strong outing and kept the tempo high, but against a motivated peloton they were always up against it. Their lead quickly began to shrink, yet inside the final 10 kilometres they lifted the pace again. After Thursday’s drama with late catch-ups, it briefly looked like something might be possible — but the cooperation wasn’t perfect.

Zukowsky tried to go on the attack alone. Dillier let him go, but Moscon managed to close it down. It didn’t pay off: the gap kept dropping and, with 3 kilometres to go, the breakaway’s chances were over. The run-in to the sprint was messy, with a crash involving Matteo Milan and little real organisation in the final kilometre. In that chaos, it was Jonathan Milan who thrived most — and he made it two stage wins in a row.