On a stage that had “bunch sprint” stamped all over it, Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que.’s Nick Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) made sure it wasn’t a procession.
Stage 5 of the 2026 UAE Tour rolled 168 km from Dubai Al Mamzar Park to Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, a pan-flat run destined, it seemed, for the fast men. And sure enough, when the dust settled it was Jonathan Milan throwing his arms aloft for the second day in a row, the Lidl-Trek powerhouse storming through a chaotic finale.
Behind him, Antonio Tiberi held onto the overall lead, while national champ Derek Gee-West remained seventh overall. But long before the sprint trains began to form, Zukowsky had already animated the day.
The move wasn’t planned. In fact, it wasn’t supposed to happen at all. But he ended up being away for almost 150 km.
“The idea wasn’t really to be in the break, to be honest,” Zukowsky said. “It was a fight from the start — a lot of teams wanted it. Red Bull were attacking a lot, Jayco too. I just kind of got stuck in there… partly to mark the important moves, partly just for fun.”
Somewhere in that early chaos, the Pinarello-Q36.5 rider found himself committed. What began as a quartet quickly became a trio when one rider sat up, leaving Zukowsky alongside Gianni Moscon of Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe and Silvan Dillier of Alpecin-Deceuninck.
“We started with four, but in the end it was just the three of us,” he said. “Once that happens on a stage like this, you know the odds aren’t great.”
The peloton, marshalled by the sprint teams, never let the leash grow too long. Still, the trio dangled out front, their advantage hovering around 50 seconds as the kilometres ticked away.
“It was pretty steady all day, nothing crazy,” Zukowsky said. “But in the final I thought, ‘Okay, let’s at least get some proper work in.’ There was a crosswind section coming, so I started pushing before it. You never know what’s happening behind — maybe they start playing games.”
So he pressed on, driving into the headwind.
“It was hard to make it stick when you’re doing most of the work,” he said candidly. “Silvan had spent a lot the last few days, so he was feeling it a bit. Moscon was pulling, but maybe not full gas. It’s tough in that situation.”
Tough — and ultimately futile. The elastic snapped with three kilometres to go, the peloton swallowed the break. But Zukowsky had no regrets.
“On paper this is a super,…
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