Lorena Wiebes Powers to Back-to-Back Sprint Wins in UAE Tour
Lorena Wiebes also won the second stage of the UAE Tour Women. The Dutch rider from SD Worx-ProTime was by far the fastest in the bunch sprint. Chiara Consonni of UAE Team ADQ finished second, while the 21-year-old Dutch talent Nienke Veenhoven from Visma | Lease a Bike took third place.
The start and finish of the second stage of the UAE Tour Women were in Dubai. The 145-kilometer route was almost completely flat, making it tailor-made for sprinters. There were also two intermediate sprints on the program, offering three, two, and one bonus seconds respectively.
Shortly after the start, the day's breakaway quickly formed with Norwegian Lind Magdalene from Hitec Products-Fluid Control, Swiss rider Petra Stiasny of Human Powered Health, Italian Sara Luccon from Top Girls Fassa Bortolo, and Sonia Rossetti of Vini Fantini-BePink. At its peak, the quartet had a seven-minute lead.
Breakaway caught
In the peloton, it was mainly SD Worx-ProTime, Visma | Lease a Bike, and UAE Team ADQ who controlled the race, gradually reducing the breakaway’s advantage. With 30 kilometers to go, Marlen Reussen (Movistar) surprised with an attack. The Swiss rouleur failed to escape, but Vittoria Guazzini (FDJ United-SUEZ) followed Reussen’s example. This attempt was also unsuccessful, and calm quickly returned to the peloton.
The tempo accelerations soon led to the break being reeled in. The stage then progressed without further surprises, and the riders prepared for the sprint. In the final ten kilometers, the pace increased and the sprint trains made their way forward on the wide roads towards the finish line.
Wiebes dominant in crash-marred finale
Things seemed to be going well for a long time, but just before the final kilometer multiple riders, including Reussen, went down in a crash. The biggest favorites, however, stayed on their wheels and went on to contest the sprint for the victory. Franziska Koch of FDJ United-SUEZ tried to surprise the peloton, but Wiebes was dominant and sprinted to her second consecutive stage win. Consonni had to settle for second place, while Dutch talent Veenhoven impressively took third.
