CANYON//SRAM Racing had a solid performance on the queen stage of UAE Tour Women today. Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka extended her lead in the intermediate sprint classification by taking points in both sprints. At the same time, teammates Elise Chabbey and Soraya Paladin jumped into fifth and seventh in the general classification.

The stage was always predicted to be a GC battle with a summit finish on the ten-kilometre Jebel Hafeet climb near the city of Al Ain. Crosswinds again damaged the size of the peloton, with some GC favourites put under pressure and starting the climb minutes behind the leaders. CANYON//SRAM Racing, however, placed Elise and Soraya into perfect position for the climb, and the duo went clear with an elite group of around 12 riders on the slopes of Jebel Hafeet. The duo lost contact with the two leaders from Trek Segafredo but fought hard to jump more than 20 places in GC.

Elisa Longo Borghini (TFS) took stage honours and now leads the tour ahead of tomorrow’s final stage. Elise is +1:58 in 5th and Soraya +2:06 in 7th on GC. Agnieszka leads the intermediate sprint classification by 13 points.

REACTIONS FROM THE RIDERS

Elise Chabbey: “The crosswinds were hard, but the team looked after myself and Soraya. Agnieszka did a really big turn at one point to save me from the echelon chaos. In the end, Soraya and I had a great position going into the climb. After some kilometres, when Trek increased the pace, I wanted to maintain my rhythm. It meant I still had something for the final part of the climb, and I didn’t completely explode. I was happy with how I rode. It’s early in the season, and I haven’t focused on long climbs in training, so this is a nice result before the spring races.”

Soraya Paladin: “The first part of the race was easy and then became harder with the crosswinds and getting closer to the final climb. The team rode well today. I tried to follow the leaders on the climb. I went too deep because I dropped from the first group and soon after I dropped from the second group. I was suffering a lot. But I never gave up, and I’m happy with the result.”

HOW TO WATCH

The final stage of the UAE Women Tour can be followed on Twitter with #UAETourWomen and #UCIWWT, and broadcast on Dubai Sports at 13:30 and GCN and Eurosport at 11:50CET.

Stage 4 | Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sport Academy – Abu Dhabi Breakwater | 119km

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