Lorena Wiebes completed back-to-back stage victories and retained the leader’s red jersey on day two of the second UAE Women’s Tour on Friday.
SD Worx-Protime’s Dutch rider outsprinted the chasing pack on the long flat run towards the finishing line of the 113-kilometre trip from Al Mirfa to Madinat Zayed.
The UAE Team ADQ’s Chiara Consonni, who was third the previous day, improved to take second spot and lie 12 seconds behind Wiebes in the general classification (GC).
Joining them on the podium was Clara Copponi, finishing third in only her second race for her new team, Lidl-Trek.
Wiebes stayed out of the wind until the final two kilometres before launching her sprint off teammate Lotte Kopecky’s wheel and never lost the lead up to the finishing line.
“The final kilometre made it difficult to win today. There was a crash close to me. I had to be careful. I opened my sprint quite early but it went OK,” Wiebes said.
“It was hard to time the sprint because [Liv AlUla] Jayco came with a lot of speed from the right side. But my team did an amazing job and Lotte [Kopecky] gave me a strong lead out again today.
“We rode for the intermediate sprints yesterday because Lotte wanted to go for it to take time bonus before tomorrow's queen stage, so it was better for me to go with her.”
Wiebes' teammate Kopecky gained four seconds over the rest of her GC rivals thanks to Intermediate Sprints bonuses. The World Champion sits in fourth place, 17 seconds behind Wiebes, ahead of tomorrow's uphill finish in Jebel Hafeet, where the final 10km could be decisive.
“To take two victories in a row is a confidence booster to start the season,” Wiebes added. “We are a lot of strong Dutch riders so it’s not a surprise that we already have a significant number of stage victories in the UAE Tour Women although it’s a fairly new race.
“Tomorrow I’ll try to support Lotte [Kopecky] as much as possible. We’ll go all out for her stage victory. My other goal is to win the last stage. If it happens, I’ll finish the Tour with the green jersey.”
Stage 3 is the decisive, classic mountain climb. The route winds its way through Al Ain, where many of its landmarks like the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium and the UAE University are visited before it takes a long tour of the desert along Truck Road E30 until returning to Green Mubazzarah for the climb of Jebel Hafeet.
UAE Tour, Stage 2 results:
1. Lorena Wiebes (NED), SD Worx-Protime, 2hrs 28.08
2. Chiara Consonni (ITA), UAE Team ADQ, +00
3. Clara Copponi (FRA), Lidl-Trek, +00
4. Georgia Baker (AUS), Liv AlUla Jayco, +00
5. Martina Fidanza (ITA), Ceretizit-WNT Pro Cycling, +00
General Classification:
1. Lorena Wiebes (NED), SD Worx-Protime
2. Chiara Consonni (ITA), UAE Team ADQ at 12sec
3. Rachele Barbieri (ITA), Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL at 16sec
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
CREW
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Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
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Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
Skoda Superb Specs
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Our legal advisor
Rasmi Ragy is a senior counsel at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Prosecutor in Egypt with more than 40 years experience across the GCC.
Education: Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1978.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
