photo credits @ UAE Tour
Jonathan Milan blasted past his rivals to claim stage 4 of the UAE Tour in Fujairah on today.
The Italian Lidl-Trek rider was favorite to take the opening stage, only to crash 1,500 meters from the end with UAE Team Emirates’ Isaac del Toro going on to seal a surprise victory in Abu Dhabi.
But there was no mishap this time as Milan timed his sprint to perfection to nix Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling) on the line, while his younger brother Matteo Milan (Groupama-FDJ United) came home in third.
Meanwhile, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) finished safely in the peloton to maintain his grip on the leader’s red jersey, with the Italian maintaining his 21-second advantage over Isaac Del Toro in the general classification, with Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) in third, one minute behind Tiberi.
After Remco Evenepoel’s disastrous finish on Wednesday’s climb up Jebel Mobrah, that saw the Stage 2 time-trial winner and overnight leader lose the red jersey, the Belgian rider gave a conservative performance today that leaves him one minute and 44 seconds behind Tiberi with the Jebel Hafeet climb still to come.
Earlier, it looked like the breakaway group of Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Stefan de Bod (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla) and James Knox (Picnic PostNL) would remain outside the clutches of the peloton after spending much of the stage out in front. However, Knox was dropped in the final hour and the remaining four were caught with 300 meters remaining.
When asked if he had doubts whether the peloton would catch the break, Milan admitted: “I have to say the truth: yes. We knew that this breakaway was really strong, we were always keeping them at two, three minutes during the race.
“I have to say that my guys were really strong to keep them under control, they did really big work, I have to thank them as always.
“We just [caught] them after one kilometre to go, and then I was a bit more relaxed, but in a sprint you’re never so relaxed. We knew that it would be a bit stressful in the last kilometers because there was this big straight and there’s always a bit of a washing machine [effect].
“It’s tough to stay all together, but my team was there, they did a really fantastic job, always keeping me in the first position, and they delivered me in a good way, so I just had to sprint, and I’m really happy with my performance.”
On his brother Matteo’s performance, Jonathan added: “I’m really happy also for him. I knew that he could do really good. Just after the finish line he told me “Hey, I finished third,” so I’m even more happy.
“I’m glad that he didn’t beat me today, but maybe one day he will be there. I’m happy for my victory and for his first top three in a World Tour race. That means a lot for him and for his team.”
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