Team UAE rider Samah Khaled, the current Arab champion, sprinted to a memorable victory in the second stage of the inaugural Dubai Women’s Cycle Tour on home soil on Tuesday.
The flat 106.45km second stage came down to a sprint finish and Jordanian Khaled, who works as a Dubai Police trainer, had the legs to power past stage one winner Lucy van der Haar for a thrilling win.
Van de Haar was second with Belgian Kim de Baat (Team Ciclotel) in third.
Khaled’s teammate Annemiek Stegehuis said: “In the last 500m it funnelled down into the sprint. The peloton went to the right so we kept Samah on the left as the wind was pushing from left to right. So she came in from wide and charged down just on the inside of the barrier and went for the line.”
The win means Khaled will assume the overall leader’s red jersey heading into the third stage after also finishing on the podium on the opening day.
After two sprint stages the third will be one for the climbers as riders venture out of the city and into the Hatta Mountains.
