Charlotte Kool beats old teammate Wiebes to win stage 1 of UAE Tour Women

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Charlotte Kool (Team DSM) has proven herself to be a world-class sprinter, winning stage 1 of the UAE Tour Women against the rider she was leading out last season, Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx).

The stage had promised crosswind action, but the wind wasn't strong enough to force echelons. There were a number of crashes, including two within the last four kilometres, but the peloton came onto the 750-metre finishing straight for a mass sprint. 

Wiebes was led out perfectly by her teammates Femke Markus and Barbara Guarischi, but Kool got the jump on her from behind to win by a bike length and take the red leader's jersey.

Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) claimed the final spot on the podium.

"This is what I trained hard for, to win such a sprint even when not everything went well is amazing," Kool said. 

"There were a lot of crashes, it was really chaotic, and we lost some strong riders. I had a bit of a miscommunication with my teammate on the last straight, but I just had a really, really good sprint and made it all up again. I was not really looking to Lorena but just doing my own thing, but it sure feels good to be in front of her.

As stage 1 winner, Kool also leads the race overall, four seconds ahead of Wiebes and five seconds ahead of Consonni, and will wear the red leader’s jersey on stage 2.

"We did pretty well as a team," she added. "We were there together in all the key moments, and they looked after me the whole day. They had confidence in me, and that gives me wings. We will go again tomorrow. The course will be different, the wind may also play a different role, but I can’t wait to sprint again."

How it happened

Covering 109 km from Port Rashid to Dubai Harbour, the stage mainly traversed the sprawling Dubai cityscape, only briefly passing through the desert surrounding the city.

A crash in the first kilometres took out Matilde Bertolini (BePink) who eventually had to abandon. Silvia Persico and Eugenia Bujak (both UAE Team ADQ) also went down but could continue the race. 

High speeds meant that nobody was able to get away and establish a break – but when the peloton reached the desert for a crosswind stretch, there was another crash, and about 15 riders were held up. They had to chase hard to keep the peloton in sight but returned when the race direction changed and the pace dropped.

Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon-SRAM) won the first intermediate sprint halfway through the stage, and Trek-Segafredo, Team Jayco-AlUla, and Zaaf Cycling Team pushed hard on another crosswind section, making several riders including climbers Pauliena Rooijakkers (Canyon-SRAM) and Eider Merino (Laboral Kutxa Fundación Euskadi) temporarily lose contact.

The second intermediate sprint was won by Liane Lippert (Movistar Team). Right after a short tunnel to turn onto the coastal road with four kilometres to go, a big crash in the middle of the peloton held up any riders including Kim De Baat (Fenix-Deceuninck), Tamara Dronova (Israel Premier Tech Roland), Ilaria Sanguineti (Trek-Segafredo), Sarah Roy (Canyon-SRAM), Alice Barnes (Human Powered Health) and several of Kool’s DSM teammates.

Another 10 riders, including Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), Persico, and Emilia Fahlin (FDJ-SUEZ), went down in a crash with 2.7km to go, but received the stage winner’s time due to the three-kilometre rule.

On the finishing straight, Markus and Guarischi were at the front with Wiebes in their wheel. Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) jumped 300 metres from the line but faltered in the headwind, and Wiebes launched her sprint from Guarischi’s wheel. 

Kool and Consonni came from behind and could pick up speed in her slipstream, and Kool went past the European champion to win the stage while Consonni took third place.

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