There is only one day for the climbers to test their legs at the sprint-heavy UAE Tour Women, and with a tight GC battle, there is all to play for on stage 3's final ascent atop Jebel Hafeet.
The second stage at the UAE Tour Women saw fewer changes in the general classification than expected, given that the race split apart due to heavy crosswinds right from the start. However, a few key riders lost some time, including FDJ-SUEZ teammates Marta Cavalli and Grace Brown.
The peloton raced along the windswept roads from Al Dhafra Castle to Al Mirfa, and eventually, the separations came back together with a headwind in the last 50 kilometres.
However, it was a key crosswind stretch in the final 10 kilometres that saw a decisive split which caused several riders to lose 31 seconds, with Cavalli and Brown the most prominent victims. By contrast, Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) was always in the front echelon and enjoyed the stage.
"I had fun today. With the crosswind and echelons, it turned out to be an exciting stage," she said. "I always rode in the first positions to avoid surprises. The way the stage went, we could have gained more time. Tomorrow will be the day of truth.”
Longo Borghini is one of the best-placed GC riders ahead of the decisive stage 3, finishing atop the Jebel Hafeet. She and Liane Lippert (Team DSM) are 13 seconds behind overall leader Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) is another second further back.
Persico had also been part of the front echelon. She suffered a mechanical with 104km to go, made it back to the front group, but eventually lost contact 74km from the finish.
Fortunately for her, she could join the large chase group where Lippert had been all race, and they returned to the front when the peloton reached the front group with 43km to go.
Most GC contenders had been part of that peloton and stayed out of trouble in the final. Behind the leader’s jersey by 16 seconds, Simone Boilard (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93), Kristen Faulkner (Team Jayco-AlUla), Soraya Paladin, Élise Chabbey (both Canyon-SRAM), Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx) and Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo) all have excellent prospects for a top GC result if they can find their climbing legs on stage 3.
Cavalli and Brown weren’t the only ones to lose time in the final as the group that was dropped in the final crosswind also included Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech-Roland), Nina Buijsman (Human Powered Health), Mikayla Harvey (UAE Team ADQ), Esmee Peperkamp (Team DSM), Nikola Nosková (Zaaf Cycling Team), and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Canyon-SRAM).
Buijsman, Harvey, Brown, Cavalli, and Nosková are now 47 seconds adrift, while Steels, Peperkamp, and Rooijakkers sit at 1:12 minutes as they were involved in the late crashes on stage 1 and lost time there, too.
The 11km climb to Jebel Hafeet with 700 altitude metres is a difficult challenge, but the time deficit from the first two stages means that these riders will have to produce a truly astonishing performance to reach the top of the general classification – they may be better off focussing on the stage win.
