Milan looked to have enough power to stay clear of Merlier, but at the last second the European champion and Philipsen accelerated to nearly pull level with the Italian in Umm al Quwain.
Crosswinds repeatedly split the bunch, including in the final 20km, with the peloton only coming back together with 3km to go and teeing up a messy sprint.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) retained his 18-second margin in the leader’s jersey over second-placed Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) and enjoyed a relatively stress-free day, staying safe in the echelons that caught out many of his major rivals.
“I think I started [my sprint] a bit too early, but in the end, this throw of the bike here made this photo finish, makes me win,” Milan said afterwards. “Like always I have to thank my teammates, super happy about it.
“The echelons always make everything a bit more interesting, no? I like them, and they’re really important for the Classics. You [get] a bit of experience, how to move, how to be careful about them. We were always ready for them, and I think we moved in a perfect way today. When you move like this with this team, it’s almost easy to bring this type of result, so really happy and proud of all my teammates.
“We are here to reach our best and to win as much as possible, so yeah, we’ll enjoy this victory and tomorrow we’ll see again.”
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How it Unfolded
The bunch may have expected a standard sprint at the end of stage 4, a 181km run from Fujairah Qidfa Beach to Umm al Quwain, but the ever-present threat of crosswinds made it a much more nervy day in the saddle.
The day’s break consisted of Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) and Djordje Djuric (Team Solution Tech - Vini Fantini), who attacked immediately and built up a four-minute advantage on the gentle slope up to Masafi, the only peak of the day.
Djuric rolled over the day’s first intermediate sprint at Masafi uncontested, but four minutes down the road there was a serious sprint for the remaining points and bonuses, won by Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Not content with sitting in the bunch, Pogačar accelerated over the top and immediately strung out the peloton. The attack was short-lived, but the other teams had been put on notice that, even on a day for the sprinters, they were never quite safe with Pogačar around.
Nor were they safe from echelons on the long, exposed highways. Inside the final 60km, Alpecin-Deceuninck piled on the pressure at the front, taking advantage of the cross-winds, and a small group pulled away. JTarling and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) were the biggest names to miss out, with Pogačar well protected by his teammates and Merlier, Milan, and Philipsen all safe at the front.
Tearing along at 60 kph the chase group brought a swift end to Leonard and Djuric’s efforts out front, but after 10km of frenzied chasing the bunch came back together.
One of the race’s more entertaining subplots so far has been the battle for the intermediate sprint points jersey, held at the start of the day by Carlos Samudio (Team Solution Tech - Vini Fantini). Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group -Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) launched a long-range attack for the day’s second intermediate sprint with Samudio and three teammates – including a still-fresh Djuric – counter-attacking. It was Djuric who took the maximum points to move into the lead, while Tarozzi secured three and Samudio finished empty-handed.
Points secured, the escapees drifted back to the bunch, but there was more drama to come. With the riders rattling along at 70 kph more huge splits opened up in the crosswinds, and several GC riders including Fisher-Black and Iván Romeo (Movistar) found themselves on the wrong side of a 25-second gap.
With just 3km left, it was all back together and, disaster averted, it was at last time for the bunch sprint. Milan opened up early but Merlier kept pace, while Philipsen was boxed in on Merlier’s wheel and only managed to come round for third at the death. But it was to be advantage Milan in the early-season sprinters’ battle, with two wins this week and a chance for a UAE Tour hat-trick tomorrow.
In Luke Tuckwell's latest column for Cyclingnews, he recalls his memorable week in France, and how he went from tears in training to his first yellow jersey
