Lorena Wiebes rounded off the UAE Tour Women with an impressive third stage victory, but it was the UAE Team ADQ’s Elisa Longo Borghini who walked away as the overall winner at the Abu Dhabi Breakwater on Sunday.
Borghini finished safely in the bunch to maintain her overall lead that she secured in the penultimate stage on top Jebel Hafeet for her second UAE Tour title following her success in the inaugural event with Lidi Trek in 2023.
“The first time I was just representing Italy and now I was representing both Italy and UAE, and we are pretty proud of it because in the end it's our, let's say, home race,” Borghini said.
“From the beginning of the season the team made a clear call that we had to be fit for this race but coming here and winning the GC, being second [with teammate Silvia Persco], and also getting away with a sprint classification [Lara Gillispie in the Intermediate Sprint] and the team classification is something just incredible.
“It shows how committed we were and how strong we were throughout the four days.”
Winning the UAE Tour for the second time in three years the Italian pointed out the pressure on the expectations riding for the host team.
“Pressure is also coming from the trust that you can do it, otherwise they will not put pressure on you, because if they don't believe in you, they are not going to put any pressure on you,” she said.
Talking about the final stage, Long Borghini added: “We hoped for a breakaway to go, but there was no chance, so we just had to do it, and we wanted to pull the sprint for Gillespie.
“We tried and also when you have the jersey sometimes it's also better to stay in the front and to be out of the troubles and in the end, I just help my teammates.”
Having kicked off the season with a fantastic result, Borghini is confident of taking the momentum forward.
“Absolutely, starting with the right foot is always nice and for sure we start in the best way possible and it's also a big boost of motivation for the upcoming races,” the winner of the Giro d'Italia Women last year said.
Wiebes followed up her wins in Stage 1 and 2 with a third stage victory with a strong finish from Sara Fiorin (Ceratizit) and Amalie Dideriksen (Cofidis) in a bunch finish.
“It's nice to finally win the last stage of the UAE Tour Women and the team worked very hard for it. It was chaotic in the last kilometres,” the Team SD Worx – Protime rider said.
“I lost the train, but I found my way out and I was able to sprint. I knew that it was mostly headwind towards the finish, so I didn't want to come too early to the front.
“I felt somebody on the right and that meant it was time for my final effort. I hit something with my right knee and my handlebar with 10km to go.
“For a few kilometres I had no power in my right leg. But then it was full adrenalin. It's really nice to start the season with three stage wins … for the team it's something we can build on for the rest of the year.”
The finish was marred by a pile-up in the peloton on the flat 128km route that was flagged off at Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Academy on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi and travelled through the city to finish on the Breakwater.
General Classification:
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)
2. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) at 2'06”
3. Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) at 2'08”
Stage result:
1. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime), 3 hrs 03 min 28 sec
2. Sara Fiorin (CERATIZIT – Pro Cycling Team) s.t.
3. Amalie Dideriksen (Cofidis Women Team) s.t.
