Neve Bradbury stamped her place on the UAE Tour Women by taking second on the summit finish of stage three. Neve climbed with the best before attacking the group to storm into second on the general classification and lead the youth classification. CANYON//SRAM Racing moves into the team classification lead after Ricarda Bauernfeind and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka finished tenth and nineteenth, respectively.

CANYON//SRAM Racing focused on bringing Neve and Ricarda into position at the bottom of the final 10.8 km-long climb, Jabel Hafeet. A breakaway trio had an over three-minute lead at the bottom but was caught with 6.5 km to go as the leading group reduced to less than twenty riders.

With less than three kilometres remaining, Neve attacked from the leading group of four riders, quickly establishing a gap as she powered to the line. Only road world champion Lotte Kopecky was able to bridge across to Neve, joining her with 600m to go. The pair sprinted for the victory, with Kopecky taking line honours and moving into the overall leader jersey.

Ahead of tomorrow’s final flat 105 km stage, Neve holds second in the general classification, 13 seconds behind Kopecky. Teammate Ricarda is in tenth place overall. Neve leads the youth classification, with teammate Alice Towers in fifth place.

RIDER REACTIONS:

Neve: “With around 3km to go, it pinched up a bit before it plateaued to the line. I was expecting Realini would go then because she was riding really strong at the bottom of the climb. When she never went, I attacked myself and looked back to see that no one followed. I tried to pave my effort to the finish line until Kopecky caught me. I thought I could try and get a run off her wheel to take the final corner first, so I made her take the lead, but she was too strong.”

“To get second on the stage is a really nice confidence boost. I feel like I belong at the pointy end of the races now. The team did a really good job all day. My teammates were looking after Ricarda and me, getting bottles and helping us conserve energy where possible, but especially positioning us both into the climb at the front. It’s also nice to see we lead the team classification after today’s stage.”

“We still have one more stage to go, but hopefully, we can take home second place in the general classification. I’m really happy with how today went, and we’re looking to finish off tomorrow with a good result for the team.”

HOW TO WATCH

The 2024 UAE Tour Women can be followed on X with #UAETourWomen. The fourth and final stage from the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum to Abu Dhabi Breakwater starts at 13:40 GST. A broadcast on Awaan starts from kilometre zero and 11:50CET on Eurosport, Discovery+ and Max.

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