Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx Protime) won three stages at the UAE Tour Women 2025 and was clearly the best sprinter of the peloton, by several bike lengths.
Her powerful acceleration and phenomenal speed saw her win stage 1, 2 and 4 comfortably and take the green jersey overall.
With the results, Wiebes has now accumulated 96 stages in her career since she joined the pro peloton in 2018.
"I'm close to the 100 wins in my career and I think that's also something special," she said.
While a typical answer for her domination might be leg strength or pedalling efficiency, Wiebes revealed a lightning bolt tattoo hidden under a ring on her middle finger. She also wore earrings with the same rather apt motif.
"I like the lightning bolt a lot as it's something that helps me win races," Wiebes told Cyclingnews.
"For me, if I wear the earrings in races and I win, I keep on wearing them."
Wiebes's fast twitch fibres dominated the fast flat stages of the UAE Tour Women, but it nearly didn't happen on the final stage.
Coming into the final sprint, Wiebes was initially not in a good position, having lost her leadouts Barbara Guarischi and Marta Lach in amongst the peloton. However, she managed to navigate herself through the pack and win comfortably.
This wasn't the only doubtful moment as earlier in the race Wiebes suffered a knock.
"With 10km to go there were these poles on the side of the road, and then I hit my handlebar with my knee, so I wasn't too sure about the sprint," she said. "Luckily, you don't feel that pain in the sprint but It's quite stiff now."
What was most remarkable about Wiebes at this race was her performance on stage 3.
While the Dutch rider has always been seen as a pure sprinter, she was keen to challenge overall GC winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) on the climb up Jebel Hafeet.
Wiebes surprised many as she wasn't dropped early on and finished 20th, in front of more typical climbers including Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance – Soudal).
"When I said I wanted to try something to the team on the mountain stage, they told me to think about the last stage and to make sure I had enough energy," said Wiebes with a coy smile.
"I am happy that I recovered enough today to deliver a good sprint, despite the power I lost yesterday.
"Winning stages here gives me a lot of confidence towards the next races, and I think we can be happy as a team also as we've made some good steps in winter and we can build on these in the season."
Lined up for Wiebes in the coming weeks are the European track championships and then Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on March 1, 2025.
For now, Wiebes is in unbeatable sprinting form and that 100th stage win could be very close.
"I try to not think too much about it and just do my races as I want to," Wiebes said.
