The men’s peloton has had early-season races in the Middle East for some time, and these races have carved out a niche as preparation for the Spring Classics campaign. With the UAE Tour Women, the women’s peloton now has such a race, too, and several classics riders took a trip to the Emirates to get some racing kilometres in before returning to Europe where the Classics season gets underway in two weeks with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
The most prominent rider was Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) – the road world champion was noncommittal about her form ahead of the race but showed that she is on the right track by leading out Lorena Wiebes to two stage victories and winning the queen stage to Jebel Hafeet and the general classification.
