Lorena Wiebes claimed the first victory of the 2025 UAE Tour Women, overpowering her rivals in a fast and chaotic sprint at Dubai Harbour. The European champion was once again the quickest, holding off fellow Dutch sprinters Charlotte Kool and Nienke Veenhoven to take the win.
The race, covering nearly 150km from Dubai Police Officerโs Club to Dubai Harbour, played out as expected, with the sprintersโ teams controlling the breakaway before setting up their leaders for the final showdown.
Breakaway trio given room to go clear
The early action saw Linda Laporta attack solo before Cristina Tonetti and Sylvie Swinkels bridged across to form a three-rider breakaway. The trio built up an advantage of almost nine minutes as the peloton, led mainly by SD Worx-Protime and Picnic PostNL, controlled the pace behind.
However, the breakawayโs hopes of causing an upset were gradually reduced as the teams prepared for the expected sprint. Laporta was the first to lose contact, dropping back with 11km remaining, before Tonetti and Swinkels were reeled in with just 3km to go.
High-speed crash disrupts the chase
With 52km to go, the race was momentarily thrown into chaos as a crash took down a large number of riders, including Karlijn Swinkels, Sofie van Rooijen, Ashleigh Moolman, Vittoria Guazzini, Mavi Garcรญa, Alison Jackson, Julie De Wilde, Antonia Niedermaier, Marta Lach and Elizabeth Deignan. Letizia Paternoster was the only rider forced to abandon after the crash, while the others managed to remount and rejoin the peloton.
The incident temporarily slowed the chase, allowing the breakaway to maintain a slender lead for longer than expected, but the peloton soon regrouped and gradually brought them back.
Wiebes unleashed after textbook lead-out
The final kilometres saw SD Worx-Protime execute a near-perfect lead-out, guiding Wiebes into the best position around the final corner. Marta Lach and Barbara Guarischi played key roles in delivering their sprinter to the front, with Wiebes able to unleash her finishing kick at exactly the right moment.
โI think the team did a really good job to put us into position,โ Wiebes said after the race. โIt was chaotic, as expected. But we went well into the next corner, and then Marta and Barbara did a good job to do the lead-out and drop me off at a good point.โ
Charlotte Kool had to start her sprint early due to poor positioning into the final turn, leaving her at a disadvantage when Wiebes launched. The SD Worx-Protime rider quickly surged past her rival to take the win with a comfortable margin.
โThe feeling is really good,โ Wiebes added. โI think it was really a fair sprint. We were both fully in the wind. Charlotte [Kool] came at speed from the back, so first I had to catch her a bit back. I felt strong all the way to the finish.โ
Wiebes’ win sees her take the race leaderโs red jersey, while Kool remains in the hunt with two more expected sprint finishes on stages 2 and 4. For now, the European champion remains the woman to beat.
โIโm happy that my sprint is still at a high level,โ Wiebes said. โBut there are still two stages to come, so I need to keep going.โ
Photo Credit: Sprint Cycling AgencyVeenhoven takes third and white jersey
Nienke Veenhoven finished third, rounding off an all-Dutch podium and securing the white jersey as the best young rider. The 20-year-old was delighted with the result and credited her teammates for their role in her performance.
โItโs special to make the top three because you really needed to sprint today,โ she said. โIโm proud of the girls and how we did the sprint together. We made it quite long, and I just trusted my teammates. At the end, I only had to sprint. Of course, you want to win, but itโs no shame finishing third behind Lorena [Wiebes] and Charlotte [Kool]. Maybe in the future, I can beat them. Iโm not there yet, but I hope to close the gap.โ
2025 UAE Tour Women Stage 1 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Sprint Cycling Agency
