Lara Gillespie's chances of even a minor placing on Friday's stage 2 at UAE Tour looked dead and buried as the field swept around a right hander deep inside the final kilometre. However, the Irish woman mustered a fast finish from the chaos to snatch 5th place.
There was no doubting the winner; Lorna Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) blasting home for her second bunch sprint stage victory in as many days, and her eighth stage win on this race since she first rode it in 2023.
With a number of crashes in the main field in the final, Gillespie and her team mates became detached and the Irish rider found herself with an awful lot of work to do. As the sprint began, she was about 25th rider on the road, but managed to take the wheel of Nienke Veenhoven (Visma | Lease a Bike) and scrapped her way to 5th.
Advertisement
Veenhoven managed 3rd, behind runaway winner Wiebes - who was in a league of her own today - and runner-up Chiara Consonni (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), Gillespie's team mate from two years ago.
Wearing the points classification leader's green jersey today, after her 2nd place of yesterday, Gillespie will be disappointed with that result, especially as she looked much faster than everyone else in the gallop, apart from Wiebes.
Mia Griffin was also fighting it out in the first section of the strung out peloton in the final, leading out her Picnic PostNL Italian team mate Rachele Barbieri, who placed 19th. She was just ahead of Irish champion Griffin, who crossed the line in 22nd position.
Related News
Tomorrow's third stage of four should be another one for the sprinters, unless the crosswinds intervene. That will be followed by Sunday's decider, when the stage finishes atop the 10.7km ascent of Jebel Hafeet.
Gillespie remains 2nd overall, at 14 seconds, and also remains 2nd in the points classification. That means she will wear the green jersey again tomorrow as the leader of that classification, Wiebes, will be in the race leader's jersey.
Never in doubt ?
Lorena Wiebes dominates Stage 2 of the UAE Tour Women to make it two from two. pic.twitter.com/AbqnOYgMJp
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) February 6, 2026
