Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) completed his domination of sprints at the UAE Tour, speeding to stage victory number three in the race's concluding stage at Abu Dhabi Breakwater.
The Italian was unmatched in the final dash to the line of the 149km stage, which saw the breakaway caught just 2km from the finish. He held off Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) and Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers) to secure victory in a stage run at a race-record 50.566kph.
"It's really nice to end this UAE Tour with this victory. Last year was pretty close to this – Merlier anticipated a huge sprint and I wanted to do more or less the same, so I took a bit of experience from last year," Milan said after his win.
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"Today was a super fast stage and also hard with the wind and the super strong break. We had to control it, and we did really well. I want to say thanks for the huge efforts my teammates did in this UAE Tour. We showed that we are one of the best trains, so I'm happy with the victories and also with how we did the race.
"I'm really, really happy for this achievement, and I hope to keep pushing and try to be the best in the next races of the season. Then we will see how it will end," Milan added, in reference to scoring the 30th win of his career.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall title for the home squad. The Mexican takes home the red jersey with a 20-second advantage over Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), while Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) rounds out the podium at 1:14 down.
How it unfolded
The peloton races through Abu Dhabi during the final stage (Image credit: Getty Images)
The seventh and final stage of the 2026 UAE Tour would revert back to a sprint finish after four years of the race concluding atop Jebel Hafeet.
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This time around, the peloton would tackle 149km of flat ground between the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Breakwater, with two intermediate sprints along the way.
Attacks flew from the start of the stage, including a surprise move by Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at kilometre zero.
The Belgian's attack drew out several others, including the fourth-place man on GC, Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana), but race leader Isaac del Toro and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad quickly sprang into action to chase the attack down.
Soon afterwards, after 9km of racing, another Red Bull racer broke free. This time it was Callum Thornley who was more successful in his move.
The Briton was joined out front by Daan Hoole (Decathlon-CMA GGM), Ezra Caudell (Modern Adventure), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), and Alvaras Mikutis (Tudor) in a five-man breakaway.
The five-man break of the day (Image credit: Getty Images)
The move wasn't allowed much time, however, only holding a 25-second lead at Yas Marina Circuit, where Mikutis won the day's first sprint after 30km.
Further back, Evenepoel briefly tried to attack again, while Lotto-Intermarché pair Lennert Van Eetvelt and Baptiste Veistroffer went on the move soon afterwards.
They'd soon be brought back, though, and eventually, as the 100km to go marker neared, the break began to properly pull away, though their lead would still be limited to a minute maximum.
The race continued on towards the second sprint at the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi with little other drama. Instead, the break hit the sprint with a 40-second advantage as Hoole led the way across the line. With 43km left to run, the sprint squads in the peloton still held the cards ahead of the finish.
Teams including UAE, Lidl-Trek, and Uno-X Mobility worked on the front during the run-in, though there was still plenty of time to make the catch before the closing sprint.
Caudell was the first man to lose contact with the break at 16km to go, while the surviving quartet would battle on into the final 10km. They held onto an ever-decreasing lead right up until the 2km marker, at which point the peloton swallowed them back up.
Alpecin-Premier Tech took control from that point, while Lidl-Trek and XDS-Astana were also prominent up front. Modern Adventure hit the front in the final kilometre, however.
Uno-X Mobility came through to lead out the finishing sprint, but it was double stage winner Jonathan Milan who was in prime position just behind. The Italian hit the front with 150 metres to go and never looked back, blasting to a third stage win of the week.
Isaac del Toro celebrates overall victory (Image credit: Getty Images)
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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