Lorena Wiebes maintained her perfect record in 2024 and made it back-to-back wins at the UAE Tour Women after another textbook lead-out from SD Word-Protime on stage 2.
The Dutch sprinter powered to the line ahead of Chiara Consonni (UAE ADQ) in second and Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek) in third after being delivered to the front by World Champion Lotte Kopecky inside the final 150 metres.
An 11km straight run to the line in Madinat Zayed made for a tense finale all about timing but the Dutch squad got it just right with a late surge to the head of the bunch from Kopecky placing Wiebes in prime position to launch.
Wiebes held onto the overall lead of the race but tomorrow’s stage won’t be one for the top sprinter. Stage 3 will decide the overall winner with the climbers getting their first and only opportunity on the queen stage to Jebel Hafeet.
“The stage final made it quite difficult. It was sometimes a bit dangerous, I think there was a really big crash close to me in the final kilometre. That’s always a moment that you have to be careful,” said Wiebes after the long straight road made for a nervous final 10km.
“I opened up my sprint a bit early but luckily it was enough. It was a bit hard to time because [Liv AlUla] Jayco came with a lot of speed from the right, but again the team did an amazing job. Lotte did another really strong lead-out for me.”
A rapid day of exposed racing from Al Mirfa Bab Al Nojoum to Madinat Zayed saw echelons form in the first few hours of racing with SD Worx-Protime leading the charge in the desert.
With their sprinter Wiebes and GC hope Kopecky both in alongside two teammates, it looked as though the race would be blown to pieces until the World Champion had a flat tyre and everything came back together without any splits, ending any chance to gain an advantage on GC rivals.
“Lotte wants to go for the intermediate sprint to take seconds for GC,” said Wiebes confirming her teammates' ambitions for Jebel Hafeet. The World Champion will have a tricky challenge going up against the top two from 2023, Elisa Longo Borghini and Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek).
How it unfolded
The 113-kilometre stage began with an out-and-back loop on a long straight road near Al Mirfa before the riders turned left after 24 kilometres to head south-southeast into the desert and the finish in Madinat Zayed, with a tail-crosswind for most of the way.
At this point, SD Worx-Protime headed to the front and increased the pace, and at km 32, a group of 14 riders got away at the front – but Kopecky’s puncture ten kilometres later took the momentum out of this front echelon, and the peloton caught the rest of the group soon after.
With the wind not as strong as expected and more of a tailwind than a crosswind, the rest of the stage was fast, but rather uneventful but for a number of punctures. White jersey Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City Women) attacked with 43 km to go in a bid to win the second intermediate sprint, but she was reeled back in after a few kilometres, and Kopecky won the intermediate sprint ahead of Wiebes, putting the world champion in the black intermediate sprint jersey.
A technical section through the outskirts of Madinat Zayed with lots of turns and a six-kilometre stretch on a wide cycling path was negotiated without problems, and the race stayed together onto the long, long finishing straight.
Liv AlUla Jayco made a charge up the right hand side of the finishing straight, taking front position from SD Worx-Protime. But a late and powerful push from Kopecky put Wiebes back in the driver's seat and when she launched no one could come around her. Consonni finished fast but the Dutchwoman had already sat up and started celebrating.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
