UAE Tour 2023, February 20-26 (women's race February 9-12)

[Lequack]

Sprint replay

https://twitter.com/x/status/1623661938956808194

View: https://twitter.com/marcrp/status/1623661938956808194?s=20&t=nESghUxXZeQK3FFHkqVTGg

 

[Lequack]

Did not expect Weibes to be beaten at pure speed by the leadout rider she had last year, very nice win.

Apparently she crashed, so probably used some energy coming back.

 

[yaco]

It was a pleasant surprise to see the outright speed of Kool which augurs well for the future.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The headwind obviously made it easier to come from behind, and Wiebes must have spend quite a bit of energy on getting back to the front after the crash, but it's no secret that DSM believed that Kool would be able to beat her on occasion.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Some GC riders lost time because of crashes and/or splits in the final. Worst affected is Dronova who finished four minutes behind.

 

[Didinho]

Chiara Consonni was in the wheel of Kool but had to go in a small gap, out of balance before she started her sprint and ended up in 3th. Maybe the fastest today, mostly because of the slipstream but could've been closer if she stayed behind Kool.

 

[Red Rick]

If that was a headwind they opened up a LOT of space to the rest of the sprinters.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1623705268054904832

View: https://twitter.com/GreenEDGEteam/status/1623705268054904832?s=20&t=zElczfoQIENe6EAjEZOpEw

 

[Anderis]

Worst affected

Annemarie Worst is not in this race.

 

[BR2]

So ELB lost a bit, too?

 

[Lequack]

So ELB lost a bit, too?

I think she got the same time as the winner.

Winners interview:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1623743467724722179

View: https://twitter.com/UCI_WWT/status/1623743467724722179?s=20&t=UsNDej3eWkSkAr0rzCtP7g

 

[awavey]

If that was a headwind they opened up a LOT of space to the rest of the sprinters.

it was a headwind where they crashed, but they took a 90 degree left into the finish straight at under 1km to go, so the finish line was cross wind where the sprint opened up.

and it was a strong headwind because I was looking at it thinking their pace was really down for a sprint so close to the finish and they were playing tactics for the sprinters, as they had alot of smaller riders on the front of the sprint trains with the bigger riders (and some teams had very big riders) hiding in the bunch, but the road side shots you could see the riders on the front were really pushing hard to maintain the speed they had and the palm trees were swaying alot.

 

[RedheadDane]

and it was a strong headwind because I was looking at it

And that's where my brain stopped... briefly getting confused about why it was a headwind because you were looking at it.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Complete carnage from the start today with the wind blowing everything apart.

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[Samu Cuenca]

So the front group with Kool, Wiebes, Consonni, Persico, ELB, Norsgaard among others had about two minutes for a while, but the gap to next group has dropped to 1:30 now. The thrid group with FDJ is a further two minutes behind. Still 89 km left.

 

[Lequack]

Nice crosswinds action!

 

[Lequack]

Arabic steam is live. Eurosport/GCN stream starts @ 11:45 CEST

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvM1umwnOjc

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1623993701054787586

View: https://twitter.com/MatMitchell30/status/1623993701054787586

 

[Samu Cuenca]

After more than 80 km of chasing, G2 finally caught G1. 42 km to go.

 

[BR2]

So now everyone just rides along to the finish, or what?

 

[BR2]

Can someone explain the situation to me? There are two groups and the second one has given up/ doesn't care because their leaders are in front/ are trying to catch up?
And the first group, who's in it, and do they try to stay away?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Can someone explain the situation to me? There are two groups and the second one has given up/ doesn't care because their leaders are in front/ are trying to catch up?
And the first group, who's in it, and do they try to stay away?

I think too many of the riders in the first group were pretty dead when that catch was made, and now they apparently can't agree on keeping a decent pace, so the third group (which includes Cavalli), which was allegedly 5 minutes behind, is now coming back.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Norsgaard was looking good, so that puncture was really unfortunate.

Cavalli hs been dropped again now, but Faulkner managed to get back to the front.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

No doubt about it today. DSM put did a great lead out, but Wiebes had more speed than Kool.

 

[Lequack]

I thought the wind would play a bigger part, but in the end it was still a bunch sprint.