Stage 1 of the 2026 edition of the UAE Tour Women was drawn as the straightforward one, a flat 111km run from Al Mirfa to Madinat Zayed, where the sprint teams could take a breath before the race tilts towards the climbers later in the week. Instead, it rode like most days in the Emirati desert do, fast, edgy, and shaped by the fear of being caught on the wrong side of a split.
Lorena Wiebes delivered the outcome everyone had circled, but not in a neat, rehearsed train. She won by reading a chaotic final kilometre, surfing the speed of other lead-outs and then squeezing through a sliver of space along the barriers to take the first stage and the first red jersey. Lara Gillespie was second after doing enough things right to be in the lane that mattered, while Zoe Bäckstedt took third from the same frantic rush to the line.
The desert wind keeps everyone honest without fully breaking the race
The cross-tailwinds were never quite strong enough to turn the stage into a full echelon massacre, but they were more than enough to keep the bunch on edge. From the opening kilometres, riders fought to stay sheltered and near the front, not because there was a break to control, but because a moment’s hesitation in the wind can cost you more than a minute in a race like this.
That tension meant the pace rarely dropped. The peloton stretched, compressed, and stretched again whenever the road changed direction, with teams repeatedly moving up in anticipation of the next exposed section. Even when nothing decisive happened, the effort required to stay safe and positioned was constant, and the stage had that familiar UAE feel of a sprint day that still demands full concentration.
Photo Credit: GettyNo proper early escape, just pressure, probing, and a race that refuses to settle
There was no clean, established breakaway that shaped the day. Any attempt to build something meaningful was met by a peloton that simply did not want to give away control in crosswinds. With so many riders at their first race of the season, fresh legs added to the scrappiness, and the result was a long, nervous run-in where the bunch kept itself busy rather than letting a move take responsibility for the narrative.
Late efforts did briefly offer a change of rhythm, but they never looked like they would be allowed to define the stage. The sprint teams had come for this, and the wind had not created enough damage for anyone to gamble on a different ending.
The lead-in turns hectic, and the sprint becomes a fight for the right gap
The final kilometres were not a simple procession of one dominant sprint train. Instead, several teams arrived at the front together, and the road became crowded with overlapping lead-outs, each trying to claim the same sheltered line. SD Worx-Protime kept Wiebes well placed, but their run was not the kind of perfectly stacked, last-man delivery that removes all decision-making from the sprinter.
That mattered, because the final kilometre was where riders were swamped and reshuffled. Wiebes had to stay calm when the shapes around her changed. Rather than panic or commit too early, she waited for the moment the lanes opened, then made the decisive move that actually won the stage.
Photo Credit: LaPresseWiebes finds space between Gillespie and the barriers, and that is the race
With the sprint opening and the bunch fanning out, Wiebes spotted the narrowest invitation of all, a gap on the inside line, tight to the barriers and just off Gillespie’s shoulder. It was the kind of space that exists for a second and then vanishes, but she committed instantly, launched through, and separated with the acceleration that has defined her best wins.
The margin at the line underlined how cleanly she hit it once she was free. Gillespie held second after doing enough in the chaos to be in the correct corridor when the sprint truly began. Bäckstedt took third, finishing strongly from the same rush to the line without the stage being framed around her.
UAE Tour Women 2026 stage 1 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
