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Lorena Wiebes Goes 3 for 3 at UAE Tour Women

  • Ron 

Lorena Wiebes delivered yet another display of and mastery, claiming victory in the third stage of the UAE Tour and adding a new milestone to her ever-growing list of successes: 121 career wins, 9 of them in the One Ond only UCI Women’s World Tour race in the Middle East. At the end of a thrilling head-to-head sprint, Wiebes defeated Lara Gillespie—already second in the opening stage—and Amalie Dideriksen, who had previously stepped onto the third spot of the podium at this finish earlier in 2025. Special mention goes to Nina Berton, who tried to avoid the sprint with a solo attack, only to be reeled in by the bunch with 5 km to go. Tomorrow the scenario will change dramatically as the returns to Jebel Hafeet, where the overall classification will be decided.

Image (c) 2026 Sprint Cycling Agency

Speaking in the press conference, the stage winner and Red Jersey Lorena Wiebes said: “The team did a very good job controlling the breakaway all day. They put on a very good effort to enable me to sprint. Barbara [Guarischi] and I lost each other in the finale but I found a gap, I went through it, I needed to do some effort trough the wind. This stage is always difficult with this finish, I knew it. There was one moment on a bridge when panicked a bit so we tried to open an echelon but nothing happened. After that, we only controlled the breakaways. I’ll help tomorrow. We’ll go for the best result. It’s the first outing for us this season. We’ll see where we’re standing. Everybody is excited to see where they’re at in terms of climbing shape. I’ll see how long I can hang on and help the team and challenge myself”.

The White Jersey Zoe Backstedt said: “The White Jersey came by coincidence on the first day when I was in a good position to sprint and then yesterday, there was a breakaway so all the intermediate times were gone, but today I found myself in a good position and I decided to go for the first sprint and see what I could do to try and pull back some seconds and see if I could retain the white jersey for tomorrow. It was fun to sprint for the white jersey. We didn’t have the best final sprint today but every day is a learning day when you fight in the WorldTour. For sure, we can do better in the next races. Tomorrow, for me it’ll be just to finish the day. It’ll be a bit windy out there so it’ll be chaotic again, as per usual, and in the final climb, I’ll see how I can help Kasia [Niewiadoma]. I think she has the legs to win and she’ll do a good job”.

The Jersey Franziska Koch said: ““I was actually not chasing the black jersey itself, I sprinted more for the bonus seconds. Tomorrow, we’ll have an uphill finish. I think I climb OK even though I’m not one of the best . Every second I can take away is a good second. Before the climb, there could be some echelons. We have good climbers in the team, Juliette Berthet and Eva van Agt. We’re excited for tomorrow’s stage. Not only the finale will be interesting. Elisa Longo Borghini is the clear favourite but there are a lot of other strong riders and I’ll try something myself”.

Stage 3 Brief Results

  1. Lorena Wiebes ( – Protime), 121km in 2h48’37”, average 43.056 km/h
  2. Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) s.t.
  3. Amalie Dideriksen (Cofidis Women Team) s.t.

After Stage 3

  1. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime)
  2. Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) at 18″
  3. Zoe Backstedt (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) at 23″

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Tags: Anna Van Der Breggen, Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto, Challenge, Cofidis, Elisa Longo Borghini, General classification, Lara Gillespie, Lorena Wiebes, OPEN, Red, SRAM, Team SD Worx, Team SD Worx - Protime, The Peloton, UAE Tour, UAE Tour Women, UCI, black, change, climbers, climbing, cycling, jersey, peloton, power, speed, stage winner, white, women
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