photo credit @ Al Ula Tour
This year’s Al Ula Tour started with a bang, with Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan capturing his first win of the season after out-sprinting Milan Fretin (Cofidis) and Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello Q36.5) to claim the race’s first Leader’s Jersey.
The 117 gathered near the Camel Cup Race Track, taking only a kilometer before Rosli (TSG), Al Sheikh (SAU), Al Rahbi and Al Wahaibi (both OMA) rode clear, later opening up a maximum advantage of 3’20 at km 30 before the peloton started chasing them down
AL SHEIKH LAST SURVIVOR
As the escapees moved closer to the Intermediate Active Sprint, Al Sheikh collected the most points while his companions were dropped. However, the Saudi rider was eventually caught at km 92.
From there, the peloton fractured into several groups, leaving 18 men at the front. Among the leading group were the likes of Milan, Bauhaus, Fretin, Gaviria, Rex and Jakobsen, while GC contenders such as Hatherly, Double (both Jayco Al Ula) or Jan Christen (UAE), who suffered two crashes, were left stranded.
MILAN IN THE FRONT GROUP
The leading group quickly saw its advantage reach 40” as they moved closer to the final circuit. An intense battle between the leaders and the chasing group continued, with Kirsch winning the second Intermediate Active sprint. However, the lead group’s gap dropped to just 30”. At the second passage of the line, the bonus sprint was claimed by Donovan (PQT) ahead of Soderqvist (LTK) and Jakobsen (TPP), while the chasers remained 35” adrift. But that gap eventually dropped down to 10’’ with one kilometer to go, enough for Lidl-Trek to launch their star sprinter, Milan.
The Italian rider, who had already claimed a stage in Al Ula back in 2023, powered past all his rivals to win his first victory of the 2026 season.
Milan now enjoys a 4” advantage over Fretin and 6” over Moschetti going into tomorrow’s second stage, which could again end up in a sprint. Milan also leads the points classification, while Fretin is the best young rider, as Mark Donovan leads the most Active Rider standings.
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