Longo Borghini rockets to overall victory at UAE Tour Women

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) powered to glory on the climb to Jebel Hafeet to claim a third UAE Tour Women victory in four editions. The Italian champion soloed clear with 3km to go to take the spoils. Monica Trinca Colonel (LIV Alula Jayco) took second place on the stage, with Femke De Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) coming home in third.

A long, flat day awaited the peloton before they arrived at the mighty Jebel Hafeet. A seven-strong group of attackers gained a small advantage during the stage, with Alison Jackson (St Michel) among them, but they would be caught with 20km to go to the base of Jebel Hafeet.

After the catch was made, a cohort of teams took a chokehold of the peloton, with the majority of the work split between UAE Team ADQ, EF-Education Oatly, Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto, and Lidl-Trek.

Once on the climb to Jebel Hafeet, which is 10.7km in length with an average gradient of 6.9%, UAE Team ADQ immediately came to the fore for their star rider Longo Borghini, who was looking to defend her 2025 title. 

The pace was rampant as riders dropped one by one thanks to the tempo of Karlijn Swinkels. Kasia Niewiadoma sat latched onto the wheel of Longo Borghini as the group was whittled down to fewer than 25 riders with 8km to go.

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon//SRAM) was putting in a mighty effort to cling on to the back of the peloton, but it wasn't to be for the young Briton. With 6.3km to go, the pace ramped up thanks to the attack of Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) in a bid to set up her teammate, Niamh Fisher-Black. That saw a group of GC favourites pull clear, with Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini, Femke De Vries (Visma), Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv Jayco) and Kim Le Court (AG Insurance) join Fisher-Black and Spratt.

Trinca Colonel set a ferocious tempo inside the last 5km, which saw Le Court distanced. 

Longo Borghini’s decisive move began with 3.8km to go, when she rocketed off the front of the group with only Niewiadoma able to match the effort. It was clear, however, that the Polish champion was battling hard, grimacing with the effort. The key blow was delivered with 2.8km to go, as Longo Borghini put in another burst, and this time Niewiadoma was distanced.

Trinca Colonel and De Vries overtook Niewiadoma, who appeared to dip into the red significantly. Longo Borghini continued her effort to the line with Trinca Colonel across the line in second and De Vries third.