Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won Stage 5 of the UAE Tour in Dubai, powering through a messy, technical sprint to take his second consecutive stage victory and fourth win of 2026.
Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) finished second with Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) third, but neither threatened Milan after the Italian opened his sprint from distance and sustained enough speed to hold them off. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) retained the Red Jersey ahead of tomorrow's Jebel Hafeet summit finish, the last serious GC lever in this race.
The 166 km route from Dubai Al Mamzar Park was pan-flat, with desert crosswind sections that never materialised as a threat. A northerly headwind on the return leg kept the peloton together, denying GC teams the echelon opportunity that had been flagged pre-stage. The real difficulty was compressed into the final 1.5 km: two sharp corners forced sprint trains into a positioning fight where timing mattered as much as watts.
Milan solves the Dubai finish again
A three-rider breakaway of Gianni Moscon (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) animated the mid-race kilometres without ever building a gap beyond 1:30. The peloton, after nearly misjudging the catch on Stage 4, kept control throughout. Dillier used the move productively, winning both intermediate sprints to consolidate his Black Jersey lead.
Zukowsky tried a solo dig at -5.5 km but was swept up with 3 km remaining. From there, the sprint trains collided in congested streets. A crash on the final corner caught Matteo Milan (Groupama-FDJ United), but Jonathan Milan was already positioned by his Lidl-Trek teammates at the penultimate turn.
Milan knew the finish from previous editions and deliberately targeted the second-to-last corner rather than the front of the final bend, giving himself room to launch without being completely exposed. The long effort held.
The GC picture stayed frozen. Tiberi leads Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by 21s, with Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) at 1:00 and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) at 1:07. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), sitting outside the top 10 after his Stage 3 losses, probed the early breakaway attempts on what was nominally a sprinters' day, indicating an aggressive approach from the Belgian following his Stage 3 losses.
Milan now leads the Green Jersey points classification. Tiberi tops the young rider standings. Tomorrow's 10 km ascent of Jebel Hafeet, averaging 6-7% with a maximum of 11%, will determine whether Tiberi can convert his advantage into an overall title.
Image credits: RCS/ Luca Bettini / SprintCyclingAgency
