A stacked field of the world's fastest sprinters all vied for the top spot on the approach to Dubai Harbour, with Charlotte Kool (Picnic PostNL), Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) all lining up as worthy challengers to Wiebes.
However, none could match her speed in the rapid finale, with Kool the closest but still a bike length away from her compatriot at the finish line.
Having now won four of the nine stages at the UAE Tour Women in its three-year history, Wiebes also took her 94th professional victory on stage 1, a remarkable feat considering she is still only 25.
"The feeling is really good. I think it was really a fair sprint. We were both [her and Kool] fully in the wind," said Wiebes after the finish.
"Charlotte [Kool] came at speed from the back, so first I had to catch her a bit back. I felt strong all the way to the finish."
Once teammates, Kool and Wiebes have built up a competitive rivalry ever since the latter left team DSM for SD Worx in 2023. Wiebes has often come out on top of her former lead-out rider but that fortune changed at the Tour de France Femmes last season when Kool won the opening pair of sprint stages and looked clearly the faster of the pair.
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After re-finding her best legs at the Simac Ladies Tour in October and taking two of her three stage wins in front of Kool, Wiebes continued that streak and once again appears to have retaken the crown of number one sprinter at the UAE Tour Women, easily speeding away from her compatriot.
However, Wiebes' perfect performance would not have been possible without a stellar job from her SD Worx-Protime teammates, with several contributing to the chase of the three-woman breakaway which got as far as eight minutes ahead.
They then completed the ideal lead-out, with new signing Marta Lach shining in her first race after joining from Ceratizit-WNT, guiding Barbara Guarischi around the crucial final corner with Wiebes in her wheel.
Once the Italian started her final charge, Kool had already had to launch her sprint due to poor positioning heading into that right-hand bend. This meant that when Wiebes finally kicked after showing great patience and composure, she easily moved away from her rival to take the opening stage victory.
"I think the team did a really good job to put us into position," said Wiebes. "It was chaotic, as expected. But we went well into the next corner, and then Marta [Lach] and Barbara [Guarsichi] did a good job to do the lead out and drop me off at a good point."
Wiebes and her team will have two more sprint opportunities to impress on the second and fourth day of racing, so expect more from the well-oiled lead-out.
"I’m happy that my sprint is still at a high level," she added. "But there are still two stages to come, so I need to keep going."
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
