Jonathan Milan won a chaotic bunch sprint on stage 4 of the UAE Tour, edging out Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in a three-way photo finish.
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) 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.
More to come…
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