Dubai Harbour (United Arab Emirates) – thursday 8 february 2024 - Lorena Wiebes proved to be the fastest finisher on the 122 km Dubai Stage, sponsored by Dubai Sports Council, which took the peloton from Miracle Garden to Dubai Harbour, outsprinting former Track World Champions Rachele Barbieri and Chiara Consonni. That victory ensured Wiebes to claim the Red and the Green Jerseys while Uzbek Yanina Kuskova took the lead in the Young Riders and Intermediate Sprints classifications.

STAGE 1 RESULTS

1 Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team Sd Worx – Protime

km 122 in 2h59’11” avg 40,85 km/k

2 Rachele Barbieri (Ita) Team Dsm-Firmenich Postnl

3 Chiara Consonni (Ita) Uae Team Adq

4 Georgia Baker (Aus) Liv Alula Jayco

5 Maggie Coles-Lyster (Can) Roland

6 Valentine Fortin (Fra) Cofidis Women Team

7 Laura Ruiz Pérez (Spa) Movistar Team

8 Sofia Collinelli (Ita) Roland

9 Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Team Sd Worx – Protime

10 Clara Copponi (Fra) Lidl – Trek

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1 Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team Sd Worx – Protime

2 Rachele Barbieri (Ita) Team Dsm-Firmenich Postnl a 4”

3 Chiara Consonni (Ita) Uae Team Adq a 6”

4 Yanina Kuskova (Uzb) Tashkent City Women Professional Cycling Team a 7”

5 Alice Palazzi (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo

6 Gaia Segato (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo a 8”

7 Loes Adegeest (Ned) Fdj – Suez

8 Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Team Sd Worx – Protime a 9”

9 Karlijn Swinkels (Ned) Uae Team Adq

10 Georgia Baker (Aus) Liv AlUla Jayco a 10”

THE OFFICIAL JERSEYS

    Red Jersey, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by Al Ain Water - Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx)

    Green Jersey, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Tadweer - Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) - worn by Rachele Barbieri (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL)

    White Jersey, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Burjeel Holdings - Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City Professional Cycling Team)

    Black Jersey, leader of the Intermediate Sprint Classification, sponsored by ALDAR - Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City Professional Cycling Team) - worn by Alice Palazzi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Speaking in the press conference, the stage winner and Red Jersey Lorena Wiebes said: "It’s great to already have a win for the first time this season. It’s really important to be supported by a team like SD Worx for winning a race like today’s. It’s been a great feeling also to be celebrated on stage and I’m looking forward to wearing the leader’s jersey tomorrow. It’s quite fantastic to win in Dubai and to have the big buildings in the background. This time, I even came a bit earlier to do some sightseeing of the city. Some of my team-mates went sky diving and said they had a great experience. Maybe I’ll try next year. Tomorrow in the desert it could be windier so we can expect some echelons in the long long straight road. There were some echelon attempts today and that made the average speed faster than last year’s, also because we went a bit more out of the city. The peloton was doing 44kph in the first hour as we started with tailwind. I want to win all the sprint stages and I hope Lotte [Kopecky] will do well up to Jebel Hafeet. We feel ready for winning all the stages as a team".

White and Black Jersey holder Janina Kuskova said: "My goal today was to break away to win the intermediate sprints and the time bonus that goes with it. I was successful on the first sprint but I worked too hard before the second sprint to completely reach my goal. Now my goal is to keep the white jersey till the end of the UAE Tour Women".

STATISTICS

    Fourth Dutch win out of 5 stages run in UAE Women Tour’s history so far. The previous one came last year from Charlotte Kool (stages 1 and 4) and the same Lorena Wiebes (stage 2).

    Lorena Wiebes is the first rider in UAE Tour Women’s history with 4 stage podiums. Last year she scored a hat-trick of podiums with a win in stage 2, a 2nd in stage 1 and a 3rd in stage 4.

    At 40.852 kph, stage 1 is the fastest in UAE Tour Women’s history, beating the 40.131 kph of last year’s stage 4.

    Lorena Wiebes’ last win was stage 5 of the Simac Ladies Tour last year, 151 days ago.