Jabel Hafeet (United Arab Emirates) – saturday 10 february 2024 -Lotte Kopecky and Neve Bradbury produced an incredible display of climbing in the Presight Stage of the Uae Tour Women, 126.5 km from Al Ain Museum to Jabel Hafeet, where the World Champion came victorious after a spectacular duel. The first to attack, however, was the 21-year-old Australian rival who, with less than 3 km to go, had taken a solo advantage over the leading group, which also included Mavi Garcia, Lotte Kopecky and Gaia Realini. Shortly before, defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini was left behind, followed by 19-year-old Marion Bunel. Inside the final km, Kopecky caught and dropped Bradbury to claim her first ever Red Jersey. With one day to go, the Team SD Worx rider leads with 13" over the new White Jersey Neve Bradbury and 44" over Mavi Garcia. STAGE 3 RESULTS 1 Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team Sd Worx – Protime km 126,5 in 3h22’15” average speed 37.527 km/h 1 Lotte Kopecky (Ned) Team Sd Worx – Protime 2 Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//Sram Racing a 3” 3 Mavi García (Spa) Liv Alula Jayco a 32” 4 Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl – Trek a 43” 5 Marion Bunel (Fra) St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 We a 1’00” 6 Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck a 1’04” 7 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl – Trek a 1’09” 8 Silvia Persico (Ita) Uae Team Adq a 1’29” 9 Mareille Meijering (Ned) Movistar Team 10 Ricarda Bauernfeind (Ger) Canyon//Sram Racing a 1’32”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 Lotte Kopecky (Ned) Team Sd Worx – Protime 2 Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//Sram Racing a 13” 3 Mavi García (Spa) Liv Alula Jayco a 44” 4 Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl – Trek a 59” 5 Marion Bunel (Fra) St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 We a 1’16” 6 Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck a 1’20” 7 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl – Trek a 1’25” 8 Silvia Persico (Ita) Uae Team Adq a 1’45” 9 Mareille Meijering (Ned) Movistar Team 10 Ricarda Bauernfeind (Ger) Canyon//Sram Racing a 1’48” THE OFFICIAL JERSEYS Red Jersey, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by Al Ain Water - Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) Green Jersey, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Tadweer - Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) White Jersey, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Burjeel Holdings - Neve Bradbury (Canyon//Sram Racing) Black Jersey, leader of the Intermediate Sprint Classification, sponsored by ALDAR - Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) - worn by Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) PRESS CONFERENCE Speaking in the press conference, the stage winner, Red Jersey, and Black Jersey Lotte Kopecky said: "It’s nice to be back on stage for celebrating a victory. I never get tired of that. The rainbow jersey gives some more responsibilities so it’s very nice to wear it on stage before getting the race leader’s jersey. It’s true that this is my first win outside of Europe, but wherever it happens, a victory is a victory and it feels very good. As a team, we had a super good season last year and we start now with two victories of Lorena and one for myself. It couldn’t be a better start of the 2024 season. I made a bit of a mistake when Neve Bradbury attacked. I could have reacted immediately and I didn’t. Then I thought she’d bounce back because of the wind, but she was really strong. I had to believe I could still go for the victory and I did eventually. Team work, that’s how it is really in this team. Sometimes we have to sacrifice ourselves to each other. I led Lorena [Wiebes] in the past two days and it was her own idea to give me a lead out from the bottom the mountain today. She did a great job but let’s not forget the work of the other team-mates before". The Green Jersey Lorena Wiebes said: "It’s the team that believed Lotte Kopecky could win today so we supported her fully. I paced for her from the bottom of the climb as long as I could. We were happy to hear at the top of the climb that she had won. We’ll go for it again tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be able to finish it off with four wins out of four stages". The White Jersey Neve Bradbury said: "At some point when I was solo at the front, I’ve believed I was going to get my first international victory but I saw Lotte Kopecky coming pretty fast from behind. I was expecting other riders to attack before the 3km to go but nobody went so I decided to give it a crack myself. It was the steepest part before I went. It was my last chance. I knew the first rider in the last curve would be the winner but Kopecky was too strong. I feel stronger than last month when I got third at the Tour Down Under. These two podium results are very encouraging ahead of the big mountain stage races in Europe".
STATISTICS
35th career win for Lotte Kopecky but this is the first one outside of Europe. So far she had won 20 races in Belgium, 4 in the Netherlands, 3 in Spain and Germany, 2 in Italy, 1 in France and in the UK. Kopecky last won a road race September 10 last year, exactly 5 months ago. It’s not her first victory on February 10: in 2019 she won in this same day the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana Feminas. Team SD Worx extends its winning streak to 3 at the UAE Tour Women. It’s also their third win of the season, joining AG Insurance and EF Education as the most successful teams so far in 2024. Neve Bradbury, second, improves her best result of this season: she had been 3rd on Willunga Hill and in the final classification of the Tour Down Under. Second season podium for Mavi Garcia after another third place at the Trofeo Palma Femina on January 21st. It’s the first ever top-3 finish for a Spanish athlete at the UAE Tour Women.
TOMORROW'S STAGE
STAGE 4 LOUVRE ABU DHABI MUSEUM-ABU DHABI BREAKWATER, 105 KM - ALDAR STAGE The route - Stage around the city of Abu Dhabi. Starting from Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first part of the route heads to Saadiyat Island and then to Yas Marina. It returns to Abu Dhabi City and passes over Al Reem Island (Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi) and Al Maryah Island. It then passes in Qasr Al Hosn, arriving at Abu Dhabi Breakwater for a sprint finish. Finnal kilometres - The last 5 km are on a wide road with large semi-curves that lead to the finish line on asphalt.
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