UAE Tour Women 2024: Kopecky wins showdown at Jebel Hafeet and takes overall lead
Thomas Huber
· 10.02.2024
The 128-kilometre queen stage of the UAE Tour took the riders from the Al Ain Police Museum to the Jebel Hafeet climb. The stage was flat as a plate for almost 120 kilometres, then came the decisive climb of the UAE Tour. The Jabel Hafeet climb, which is almost 11 kilometres long, has an average gradient of 6.8 and a maximum of 11% - today it should once again be the deciding factor in the overall standings:
Kopecky outwits Bradbury in the final sprint
Lotte Kopecky beat her Australian rival Neve Bradbury in a thrilling sprint to the finish to win the queen stage. With 200 metres to go, she pushed hard - but Bradbury was unable to keep up the pace, allowing Kopecky to narrowly prevail and celebrate.
Shortly before the finish, a four-person lead group crystallised, consisting of Lotte Kopecky, Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek), Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing). It was the latter who took off three kilometres from the finish and opened up a gap between herself and her rivals. A short time later, Kopecky launched a counterattack - Garcia and Realini were unable to keep up and had to let go. The world champion then caught up with Bradbury 700 metres before the finish and it came down to a direct duel with a happier ending for the Belgian.
"I was very motivated today and wanted to see how far I could go on this climb. The fact that I won the stage today gives me confidence." - Lotte Kopecky in the winner's interview
UAE Tour Women 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 3
- Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx - Protime) 3:22:15
- Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +0:13
- Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) +0:44
- Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) +0:59
- Marion Bunel (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93 WE) +1:16
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +1:20
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +1:25
- Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) +1:45
- Mareille Meijering (Movistar Team) +1:45
- Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +1:48
The overall standings after the 3rd stage
- Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx - Protime) 8:49:18
- Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +0:03
- Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) +0:32
- Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) +0:43
- Marion Bunel (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93 WE) +1:00
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +1:04
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +1:09
- Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) +1:29
- Mareille Meijering (Movistar Team) +1:29
- Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +1:32
How the 3rd stage went
Stage 3 of the UAE Tour got off to an extremely bumpy start - several riders were determined to get into the day's leading group. First Aude Biannic (Movistar Team) tried to escape from the peloton, Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez) also tore a small gap between herself and the peloton a little later. Although Le Net was able to win the intermediate sprint classification, both were quickly swallowed up by their rivals.
With 60 kilometres to go, a leading group of three riders formed for the day: Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundation Euskadi), Gladys Verhulst-Wild (FDJ-Suez) and the active Linda Zanetti (Human Powered Health) managed to get away from the peloton and in the meantime had a lead of over six minutes. In the peloton, the teams Lidl-Trek, Fenix-Deceuninck and SD Worx - Protime were responsible for the chase.
On the final climb, it was overall leader Lorena Wiebes who upped the pace at the foot of the Jebel Hafeet, so that the peloton quickly broke up. Even the breakaway riders were no longer able to make common cause after a short time: Verhulst-Wild pulled away from her fellow riders.
Seven kilometres before the finish, the FDJ-Suez rider was overtaken by a small group of six favourites around Gaia Realini, Lotte Kopecky and Neve Bradbury. The decision was to be made in this group.
In the end, Bradbury and Kopecky pulled away, leading to a showdown in a direct duel. Thanks to a spirited start, the Belgian came out on top just ahead of the Australian, thus ensuring a preliminary decision in the overall standings. The best German was Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing) in 10th place on the day.
