Defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) won the 2026 UAE Tour Women by triumphing atop the Jebel Hafeet on the final stage after a three-kilometre solo attack.
Longo Borghini attacked from an elite group with 3.7km to go. Kasia Niewiadoma -Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) briefly came back, but the Polish champion was dropped again at the 3km mark and then passed by Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Trinca Colonel shook off De Vries in the final kilometre to take second place on the stage and in the general classification while Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) also passed Niewiadoma-Phinney to finish fourth.
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"This victory tastes really good. As a team, we really wanted to win here, and personally, Jebel Hafeet is a climb that I have in my heart. I want to thank all the staff members and the team for supporting me, we were really committed to this victory today," Longo Borghini thanked her team after the stage.
"We came here not sure about my shape because we took it a little bit easier this winter, and it was a bit harder to win this year compared to last year, so I am very, very happy. I thank my trainer, Paolo Slongo, and all the people that are behind me, working in the shadow," she continued.
Longo Borghini wasn't the first to attack, preferring to follow the others' moves and wait for the right moment to pounce.
"They started attacking, and I like to play, so I went into the game. I stayed calm and chill until I saw them pretty tired, then I did one attack. I saw Kasia following me, and when I saw she looked a bit tired, I went again and could drop her. But chapeau to everyone today, because they made the climb nice," she concluded.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
After the DNS of Marlen Reusser (Movistar) on stage 3, another name had to be struck off the list of GC contenders as Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) had fallen ill and did not start the final stage. Right from kilometre zero of the 156km stage, Sara Luccon (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) attacked solo in a bid to take back the intermediate sprint jersey.
Luccon’s advantage ballooned to 3:35 minutes, and she won the intermediate sprint at the UAE University with 107km to go to take the lead in the intermediate sprint classification with 21 points, ahead of Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) with 17 points.
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The 20-year-old Italian then sat up and waited for the peloton, not wanting to continue riding on her own all the way to the Green Mubazzarah, 13.9km from the line.
Next to get away from the peloton was Amber van der Hulst (VolkerWessels) who was over a minute ahead on the way out into the desert west of Al Ain. After the turning point with 69.5km to go, the peloton sped up in the tail-crosswinds, quickly reeling in Van der Hulst, but the wind was not strong enough to force echelons.
There were a few short-lived attacks, but in the end the peloton reached the Green Mubazzarah together. Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) won the intermediate sprint ahead of Margaux Vigié (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Koch, securing the black jersey for Luccon.
UAE Team ADQ took charge of the race on the 10.8km finishing climb as Karlijn Swinkels reduced the peloton to less than 20 riders before swinging off with 6.9km to go. Silvia Persico took over with Longo Borghini on her wheel.
Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) was the first to attack and was followed by Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma-Phinney who then went past the Australian. Trinca Colonel, De Vries, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Le Court-Pienaar bridged to them to form a front group of six.
The front group climbs Jebel Hafeet (Image credit: Getty Images)
Fisher-Black and Trinca Colonel took turns trying to attack from this group but were closed down by Niewiadoma-Phinney each time while Le Court-Pienaar lost contact at the 5km mark. The Polish champion then accelerated herself 4km from the top, and when Longo Borghini sped past her soon after, she couldn’t follow and also had to let De Vries go past.
Niewiadoma-Phinney recovered, passed De Vries and bridged to Longo Borghini but was quickly gapped again. Clawing her way back, the Polish climber was almost on the Italian champion’s wheel when Longo Borghini launched her final acceleration with 2.7km to go, leaving Niewiadoma-Phinney behind for good for a solo victory, winning the UAE Tour Women for the third time in four years.
De Vries and Trinca Colonel then passed Niewiadoma-Phinney on the penultimate kilometre. De Vries had collected three bonus seconds earlier in the race, so Trinca Colonel attacked her on the final ramp to finish two seconds ahead and pass the Dutchwoman in the GC due to the bonus seconds for second place.
Finishing sixth on the stage and overall, 21-year-old Eleonora Ciabocco (Picnic PostNL) won the white jersey for the best U23 rider while three-time stage winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the green points jersey. Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto won the team classification.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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