Lorena Wiebes wins emphatically to start 2025 season in style on stage 1 of UAE Tour

European champion Lorena Wiebes has kicked off the 2025 UAE Tour in style, sprinting to a dominant win ahead of rival Charlotte Kool in a bunch sprint finale to stage 1. In the process, the Team SD Worx - Protime star takes early control of the leader's jersey.

Just three riders got themselves into the day's breakaway on stage 1. With the peloton relatively relaxed about the threat of the attackers, their advantage quickly rose over the eight minute mark. At around 85km to go though, the peloton finally woke up and began to chase in earnest. Despite a crash that eventually saw Letizia Paternoster forced to abandon, at 25km to go, the leaders had seen their advantage cut to just 1:42 over the peloton. 

At 5km to go, the two remaining attackers - Cristina Tonetti and Sylvie Swinkels still had 12 seconds. Finally though, with 3km to go, the catch was completed by the peloton. From there, it was all about the bunch sprint and in the fight for the line, Lorena Wiebes led the race home ahead of Charlotte Kool and Nienke Veenhoven in third.