Results UAE Tour 2026 | Isaac del Toro wins opening sprint stage as Jonathan Milan crashes

Stage 1 of the UAE Tour was almost pan-flat but featured a slight uphill finale, and the climbers made good use of it. Whilst Remco Evenepoel found himself blocked, Isaac del Toro stormed to victory in the uphill sprint and immediately took the race lead.

Despite reports of strong cross-tailwinds, the riders mostly caught the wind from the back and so the risk of echelons was small. Silvan Dillier took to the head of the race early on by himself, forming the day's breakaway, but the peloton was never under much stress.

The race was so stable that the organizers changed the course halfway through the stage, removing part of it due to strong winds. There was not much story behind, with the chase being completed with 29 kilometers to go - whilst Ben Tulett and Lennert van Eetvelt captured 2 and 1 seconds respectively in the final intermediate sprint, eyeing the overall classification.

The peloton then slowed down significantly, in the absence of any towns, climbs or technical points. The pace finally began accelerating into the final 5 kilometers, and it was the case quite dramatically. With the final 700 meters at 6%, we would be seeing a mix of sprinters and a few puncheurs and GC riders in the mix, trying to go for bonus seconds and also avoid losing time simultaneously.

However after a calm day on the bike, a crash with 1 kilometers to go in a roundabout saw Jonathan Milan hit the ground and look hurt. Groupama - FDJ had numbers into the final sprint and one of them had a late attack; which then gave way to an early sprint from Isaac del Toro. The finale proved to be steep enough for the Mexican to have the upper hand over the competition, and the UAE man right away took the stage win, 10 bonus seconds and the race lead.

Cees Bol rode to second on the day whilst Antonio Tiberi himself managed to ride to third place on the day and also capture bonus seconds.