photo credits @ UAE Tour
Confirming his status as the man to beat, Jonathan Milan powered his way through a chaotic finish to claim victory in stage 5 of the UAE Tour in Dubai today.
Today’s stage was a masterclass in team tactics as the peloton wound its way through the urban streets of Dubai before heading out for a lap of the Al Qudra Cycle Track. Lidl-Trek took full control at the front of the pack, riding to ensure the day’s breakaway never gained enough ground to threaten the finish. By keeping the escapees on a tight leash, rarely letting the gap stretch beyond a manageable margin, they set the stage for a sprint finale.
As the race hit the closing kilometers and the finish line at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University loomed, the plan came together perfectly. Max Walscheid utilized his massive frame and immense power to provide a textbook lead-out, winding up the pace and delivering Jonny into the final 200 meters with perfect timing. From there, Milan’s explosive acceleration did the rest, as he surged past his rivals to secure an emphatic victory.
This latest triumph completes a spectacular back-to-back double for Milan, who also dominated the sprint to take the win on Stage 4 just 24 hours earlier. With these consecutive wins, he now takes over as leader of the points classification with two days left of racing.
Speaking after the stage finish, Milan said: “Having finished third here last year, I knew how important it was to be in the front in the second last corner. But that was still very far from the finish line, my team had controlled the stage very well but at the end it was difficult to stay together but they positioned me really well and I found my way to sprint. I’m super happy with this result. I wanted to deliver the best result after the huge efforts by my teammates. Tomorrow it won’t be a stage for me but I hope to win on Sunday again“.
Earlier, it took quite a bit of racing before a small breakaway group containing Gianni Moscon (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech), eventually rode clear of the peloton during today’s pan-flat route from Dubai Al Mamzar Park to Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University.
However, the peloton kept a watchful eye on the trio, never allowing the gap to extend beyond a minute and a half for the first 90km of racing.
With 30km to go, the escapees’ advantage was still hovering around a minute. However, Zukowsky later decided to go it alone with 5.5km to go. But, the Canadian rider didn’t get far before he and his former breakaway companions were eventually reeled in with 3km remaining.
As the peloton made its way into the finishing straight, Lidl-Trek began moving Milan into position to contest the sprint, with the Italian rider ultimately holding off his closest rivals, Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) and Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana), with an insurmountable turn of speed to seize the stage honors.
As a result, Milan wrested the points jersey from the shoulders of Isaac Del Toro, while Tiberi only holds a 21 second margin over Del Toro in the overall race classification ahead of tomorrow’s looming Jebel Hafeet climb.
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