With season's first tranche of competition already a memory, stage racing moved from Down Under to Europe and the Middle-East, with the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana and the UAE Tour Women – both featuring some of the peloton's biggest names. As we draw ever closer to the start of the European season's biggest races, with Opening Weekend taking place at the end of this month, we take a look at what these latest events have revealed.
1. Lorena Wiebes is still the rider to beat
If the Dutch sprint star had done anything other than win repeatedly at last week's UAE Tour Women, eyebrows would have been raised. In the event, the SD Worx-Pro Time rider did not disappoint, winning three out of four stages and only faltering (as expected) when the race tackled the storied Jebel Hafeet mountain-top finish on the final day – a stage won by Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ). As well as three stage wins, Wiebes made the points classification her own.
If any of the 26-year-old's rivals were hoping that she'd lost her touch over the winter, this sends the message that she certainly has not, and sets the tone for the forthcoming Classics season.
2. Zoe Bäckstedt is the rider to watch
The last race that Zoe Bäckstedt rode was the World Championships Under-23 time trial, which saw her finish her second full year as a top-tier pro with six victories – including the GC at the Baloise Tour in Belgium. At the UAE Tour – her first race of the season and Bäckstedt's debut in the event – suggests the Brit is ready to carry on where she left off, with a string of solid performances.
Still only 21, the Brit was second in the young rider classification, as well as taking third place on stage one behind Lorena Wiebes and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ). She also took two further top-20 placings on stages.
3. Remco Evenepoel shows no sign of slowing down
A little way around the globe from where Lorena Wiebes was dominating one race, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was dominating another. With two stage wins from a possible five at the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana, and a 31-second GC victory over Grand Tour hitter João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the Belgian took his victory tally for the year to six in just eight days' racing (the GC win does of course sit outside of those individual days).
"Day by day we get better," said Evenepoel after the race and, if that holds, we can expect to see more wins coming up at next week's UAE Tour, which is made up of at least 50% hilly days.
4. Most teams have a win – but a couple still have neither
It's only the beginning of February, and it has already been a fruitful year for the majority of WorldTour teams with 13 out of 18 men's teams and nine out of 14 women's teams registering victories so far.
However, that leaves five on each side still to record a win. They probably don't need to panic just yet – after all, it took Intermarché-Wanty until April to win last season. That said, Remco Evenepoel's lavish win tally is unlikely to ease the ire with which Soudal Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere regards his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe counterpart Ralf Denk for poaching his best rider.
In addition, both Uno-X Mobility and Picnic PostNL's men's or women's teams have yet to score, so they will be looking to change that as soon as possible.
5. British pair bare their teeth behind Grand Tour star
The Vuelta CV Feminas showed multiple Grand Tour stage winner Liane Lippert (Movistar) heading in the right direction to claim more big wins this year, after time trialling away from the front group in the final three kilometres of the Spanish one-day race. Sprinting home seconds behind in the large group that followed Lippert in were her team-mate Cat Ferguson in third (another great result after her win in the Trofeo Llucmajor) and Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) in fifth, for what is her best result so far this short season.
