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

[tobydawq]

That is some scalp for Molano, wow!!

 

[Lequack]

Good news for sprinters who didn't win tho, two more boring stages coming up.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congrats to Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides for taking the win.

I was imagining a whole different set of cyclists to contest this sprint. On top of that UAE got a stage win in UAE. Now they will likely get paid.

 

[jaylew]

Five Dutchmen in the top-7, that has to be a first at this level.

That is strange. Reminds me of a women's cyclocross race. Of course, all 7 would be Dutch in that case.

 

[red_flanders]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, I didn't want to go through all 26 pages. I haven't followed this race much in the past, any opinions on how selective the final climb to Jebel Hafeet really is? Looks like some opportunities to attack in the late middle portion of the climb. I'm assuming there's only one way up, pls correct me if this isn't the right profile. Thanks!

 

[tobydawq]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, I didn't want to go through all 26 pages. I haven't followed this race much in the past, any opinions on how selective the final climb to Jebel Hafeet really is? Looks like some opportunities to attack in the late middle portion of the climb. I'm assuming there's only one way up, pls correct me if this isn't the right profile. Thanks!

It is plenty selective. Only the final couple of kilometers are not that hard, so it can end in a sprint between a couple of riders (Remco is probably too strong for anyone to follow, though).

 

[Riek s]

It is plenty selective. Only the final couple of kilometers are not that hard, so it can end in a sprint between a couple of riders (Remco is probably too strong for anyone to follow, though).

I still think Remco can be beaten uphil now. This is not yet the Remco of the vuelta, he is not in top form and drags some excessive weight. Up until now his climbing only excelled after altitude training which he also hasn't done yet. So i'm expecting Remco to just follow as long as he can and maybe go for the sprint at the end if he is still there. (just like yesterday)

 

[Big Doopie]

Damn this has got to be one of the very worst races of the season every year. No wonder Pog jumped ship.

Would have preferred Remco at Algarve again rather than this snooze fest.

 

[Oldermanish]

And yet they generate the most crashes. All that for the last 5km of action.
Risk is just too much for the entertainment value these kind of stages provide.

Another reason to race it if you have a choice.

 

[houtdffan]

I still think Remco can be beaten uphil now. This is not yet the Remco of the vuelta, he is not in top form and drags some excessive weight. Up until now his climbing only excelled after altitude training which he also hasn't done yet. So i'm expecting Remco to just follow as long as he can and maybe go for the sprint at the end if he is still there. (just like yesterday)

Didn't he do an altitude camp after Argentina?

 

[Oldermanish]

It is plenty selective. Only the final couple of kilometers are not that hard, so it can end in a sprint between a couple of riders (Remco is probably too strong for anyone to follow, though).

That 11% section seems to be where it's thinned down to a pair of riders, maybe 3. Then the last 6% kick is the separation point, usually. It is a slow motion finish.

 

[Berflamand]

Didn't he do an altitude camp after Argentina?

Not yet no, only training in Calpe. First altitude camp will be after UAE Tour.

 

[Lequack]

Rubio will have to attack again since the peloton won't do anything on that climb. That is if he has the motivation to even finish these two stages with nothing happening.

 

[search]

going by the pace so far today, you could think it's some kind of protest stage. ~16k covered in the first half an hour.

 

[Lequack]

going by the pace so far today, you could think it's some kind of protest stage. ~16k covered in the first half an hour.

Average speed for the frist hour and a half is just 36 kmh.

 

[Salvarani]

Go De Gendt!

 

[Lequack]

Why would De Gendt willingly sacrifice himself for this.

 

[search]

Maas and Hofstede did a short Velon-"enforced" attack earlier on to create some pictures for the onboad cam. Maybe there'll be more of those.

 

[search]

echelons. Plapp back in G2

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Luke Plapp losing time now

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Plapp back in the lead group

 

[search]

Bouachard didn't make it back, I think. His team mates now seem to have waited for him.

He gained one second in the intermediate sprint earlier on. May lose minutes in the end

 

[Red Rick]

Lol that looked like 10 guys sprinting next to each other, then you see the heli shot and the guys on the left were miles away

 

[Faserr]

Headwind sprint

 

[tobydawq]

Nice sprint. Congrats to Dylan.