Stage favourite Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to his third victory of 2026 on stage 4 of the UAE Tour, powering ahead of his rivals in the fast, flat finish in Fujairah which saw the break only caught in the final 300m.
Coming round the four remaining breakaway riders in sight of the line, it was a slightly messy drag to the finish, but the powerful Milan proved fastest, beating Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling) into second, with his younger brother Matteo Milan (Groupama-FDJ United) in third.
A breakaway of five riders – Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Stefan de Bod (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla) and James Knox (Picnic PostNL) – had been out front all day, working hard to try and make it to the finish line ahead of the peloton, and after Knox was dropped in the final hour, the remaining four almost did. But when the sprint trains opened up, they were swept up with only a few hundred metres remaining.
"I have to say the truth: yes," Milan said when asked if he doubted whether the peloton would catch the break.
"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 kilometres 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."
It was a family affair at the finish, with the Milan brothers competing against each other in a WorldTour sprint for the first time, and both finishing in the top three.
"I'm really happy also for him," Jonathan said of Matteo. "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 WorldTour race. That means a lot for him and for his team."
2026 UAE Tour: race leader Antonio Tiberi before the start (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
After a TT and a mountaintop finish, it was a return to sprinters' terrain for stage 4, with a lumpy 182km stage culminating on a flat and fast run-in. It took some time for the breakaway to establish itself, with several moves going, but after around 20km there were five riders in the lead: Steinhauser, De Bod, Milesi, Gamper and Knox.
With Steinhauser at only three and a half minutes down, the peloton didn't want to give the break a huge gap, and held them at around two minutes after the first 60km of racing. Gamper won the first sprint at Masfut, and things remained stable for the next while, with the gap just starting to come down as they started the final 60km.
In the peloton, it was Lidl-Trek who were setting the pace alongside race leaders Bahrain, working in support of Jonathan Milan. Despite their efforts, the gap didn't get reduced particularly quickly, and still hovered at just over two minutes with 35km to go.
With 30km to go, more and more teams started to get involved with the chase and battle for position, including Uno-X Mobility and Ineos Grenadiers, and up front James Knox was the first rider to drop out of the breakaway, leaving four riders who were trying to hold on to the end.
2026 UAE Tour stage 4: the break of the day (Image credit: Getty Images)
A crash in the bunch saw Fabio Jakobsen (Picnic PostNL), Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), Daan Hoole and Robbe Ghys (both Decathlon CMA CGM) all hit the tarmac quite hard, with Ghys forced to abandon.
Meanwhile, the building pace was finally eating into the break's advantage, with the gap going from two minutes to one heading into the final 25km. With 10km to go, the gap was still 25 seconds as the break valiantly pushed on, but it was clear that the peloton was determined to have a sprint.
With 5km to go, the yellow of Visma-Lease a Bike swarmed at the front of the bunch where the fight for sprint position was intensifying, but no one team could hold the lead for long on the very wide roads into Fujairah.
Holding a small gap into the final kilometre, it did briefly look like the break's hard-fought hope of contesting for the win might pay off. However, as the sprint trains opened up properly, they quickly swallowed up the four leaders, with De Bod making one last-ditch effort before they were caught in the final 300 metres.
The wide roads and late catch meant it was man against man in the final push to the line, but it was Milan's distinctive and dominant style that proved victorious, his third of the year, and just ahead of his younger brother Matteo, who took third. With no major issues in the peloton, the GC remains unchanged going into another sprint day on stage 5.
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2026 UAE Tour stage 4: Jonathan Milan celebrates the win (Image credit: Getty Images)
Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025. Prior to that, she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN, and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Velo, Rouleur, Escape Collective, Red Bull and more. She has reported on the ground at all of the biggest events on the calendar, including the men's and women's Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta a Espana, the Spring Classics and the World Championships. She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling, and women's sport in general. She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism.
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