Milan navigates echelons and powers to victory in season opener at AlUla Tour

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to victory on the opening stage of the AlUla Tour, which was impacted by echelons. The Italian was part of an eighteen-man front group which formed with over 40km remaining when the wind caused havoc and was the fastest in the finish at the Alula Camel Cup Track.

The Italian had the help of two teammates, Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek) and Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek), in the front group when Timo De Jong (Picnic Postnl) launched an early sprint inside the final km. Milan used both his teammates and the work of Cofidis to follow the wheels and sprint to his first victory of 2026 ahead of Milan Fretin (Cofidis), and Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello Q36.5).

A four-man breakaway formed at the start of the day featuring Mohammed Al-Wahibi (Oman), Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli (Terengganu Cycling Team), Said Alrahbi (Oman), and Ali Al Shaikhahmed (Saudi Arabia).

Al Shaikhahmed was the last rider standing from the break, but was caught well before the action would commence inside the final 50km. 

With 44km to go, there was a crash featuring Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), one of the favourites for the GC, though the Swiss rider was quickly back on his bike and chasing back to the peloton.  

The crash was untimely, and the chase would be difficult for the Swiss rider as just 2km later, the race turned direction, and the wind started to split the race apart as echelons formed. This left Christen weaving his way through the many groups of riders who had been spat out the front of the race from the echelons. 

A front group of 18 riders formed, featuring the likes of Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Fabio Jakobsen (Picnic PostNL). Meanwhile, the majority of the other riders formed a peloton behind, which Christen was able to join, over 0:30 behind the front of the race. 

Through the first passage of the finish line with 17km remaining, the gap was 0:33. Christen’s bad luck continued as the Swiss rider crashed once more, leaving him once more isolated, and over 1:00 behind the chasing pack. 

Following the second passage with 8km remaining, the gap held at a similar advantage but shortly started to plummet, as once more with the help of his teammates, Christen was within touching distance of the peloton.

Milan had two teammates in Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek) and Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) in the front group to help with the lead out as the gap was hovering around 0:10 between the two groups with under 3km remaining.

Inside the final km, Timo De Jong launched an early attack, which forced Cofidis and Lidl-Trek to chase. The catch was made, and the Tour de France green jersey winner launched his sprint to take his second career victory at the AlUla Tour, following a stage win in 2023.