Cycling played host to the Milan Derby on stage 4 of the UAE Tour, but it wasn't the Milanese giants of European football, AC and Inter, that played it out, or the iconic pillars of the soon-to-be-demolished San Siro that hosted it, but the Emirati city of Fujairah and the Italian brothers Jonathan and Matteo Milan.
The former, who took victory with a powerful surge to the line, said it was a childhood dream to compete alongside his brother at the very top of the sport, with his younger brother bookending the podium in third, his best-ever WorldTour result.
They were part of the same setup at Lidl-Trek for two years, with Jonathan on the WorldTour squad and Matteo on the development team, but the latter joined Groupama-FDJ United for the 2026 season, and he's already making his older brother proud.
"It's really special, because we were dreaming of this moment since we were really small, since we started, we were always dreaming to maybe compete in the same team or against each other at the highest level like we are now," said Milan in the mixed zone.
"I'm really happy for this, and then to see him there fighting for the victory is also really nice. I'm just really proud of what he did and for how hard he worked in these few months at the beginning of the season."
Jonathan noted how well the French team must have done in the final to get Matteo in position, after fighting his own way to the perfect launching position as the breakaway was caught in the final kilometre.
"It's really beautiful, because it's his first WorldTour race, and on his new team, and I think the UAE Tour, for me, is like the World Championships for sprinters," said the Lidl-Trek rider.
"I mean, they are missing some other guys, like Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and Olav Kooij, but there are still super strong competitors in this race, and it's never so easy to move in the last meters to find a spot where you can sprint.
"So he moved really well, and also his team has performed really well if he's there, for sure. Today, for me, it was a double victory."
Jonathan Milan didn't want to put too much pressure on the 23-year-old, however, calling for "calma" when the question of how good he can become was raised, but did say "he will have many years in the front where he will have fun and find his real potential." Today might just have been the first of many cycling Derbies della Madonnina to come.
As a start, Matteo has his imperious brother to take inspiration from, with the older Milan brother fighting back from a stage 1 crash, which has left him with a heavily bandaged hand and bandages on his elbow and knee, and getting through the brutal Jebel Mobrah climb on stage 3 to achieve his third career stage win at the UAE Tour.
"Today, I was really worried for my hand, also a bit for the knee and the hip, but I was able to have many treatments these past days, and they really worked hard on the hand because I was really struggling to hold the handlebars," he said.
"But today I was feeling good. I was super motivated. Of course, my team also did a fantastic job controlling and catching this strong break, even though it was tight. On these big roads also, it's always a washing machine, but they positioned me in a perfect point, and then I had to just do my best, and it went pretty well."
