The Italian made her attack 3.2km from the finish at the top of the Jebel Hafeet climb, and soloed all the way to the line to claim her first win for her new team for 2025, UAE ADQ.
Better yet, her teammate Silvia Persico sealed a one-two for UAE ADQ by winning the sprint for second from a case group of five that arrived 36 seconds later, ahead of Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla-Jayco), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) and Barbara Malcotti (Human Powered Health).
Borghini inherits the overall lead from winner of the first two stages, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx - Protime), who was dropped much earlier on the climb.
“We can really call it a masterpiece from Team ADQ,” proclaimed Borghini at the finish. “Today we had a clear goal, and it was the victory and the red jersey. All the team did amazing.”
Having put herself in a strong position by getting herself in the front echelon of yesterday’s crosswind-affected stage, Borghini was hot favourite to take the overall lead today. The main hazard was the potential for more action in crosswinds again during the early phase of the stage prior to the final climb, but her team remained attentive when there were some brief splits in the wind.
“There was a moment when Siliva [Persico] and I were caught out of the main echelon,” she explained. “[Elynor] Bäckstedt brought us back within a second.
“Then the whole team did a great job to position us in the best position possible into the climb. After that, Persico just rode at a good tempo.”
Persico’s pace on the Jebel Hafeet was enough to thin the group of favourites down to just nine riders, distancing overall leader Lorena Wiebes and GC rivals Juliette Labous (FDJ-SUEZ) and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike).
5.5km from the top, Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) made an attack, with Borghini the only rider to follow. The move was short-lived, however, as the rest of the 9-woman group rejoined shortly after — including Persico, who resumed her pace-setting at the front.
Persico’s pace continued to cause damage, with García, Dilyxine Miermont (Ceratizit) and Nienke Vinke (Picnic PostNL), the next to be dropped, leaving her and Borghini with just Niedermaier, Malcotti, Trinca Colonel and Le Court for company.
Then with 3.2km to go Borghini made her attack, to which none of the others had any answer to.
“I felt very comfortable the whole climb. When I felt like it was the right time, I just attacked.
“This was a crazy day. I really wanted to win my first victory for the team. I wanted us to win because a few weeks ago my family lost a friend, and that’s for him. We are pretty happy with the entire performance from Team UAE ADQ.”
With only one stage left and a 2-09 lead on GC over her teammate Persico in second and 2-11 over Le Court in third, Borghini should be able to seal overall victory tomorrow.
“For sure, we want to win this Tour and try to defend the red jersey until the very end of the race. It’s going to be a nice day tomorrow!”
How it unfolded
Stage three of the UAE Tour was the only mountain stage of the race, and therefore the 10.7km finishing climb to Jebel Hafeet was expected to be the definitive moment in the GC race.
This climb was not the only obstacle of the day, however, as the riders once more ventured far into the desert to face the kind of exposed roads that could host havoc if the wind blew.
At the start of the day, it took a long time for a break to go. In fact, the peloton was still together by the time of the first intermediate sprint of the day 45km into the stage, meaning the GC contenders fought for the bonus seconds on offer. Borghini missed out in fourth, but her teammate Lara Gillespie did prevent Juliette Labous and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot from taking the maximum.
The lull after that sprint allowed three riders to get up the road: Hannah Ludwig (Cofidis), Petra Zsankó (CERATIZIT Pro Cycling Team) and Nora Jenčušová (BePink - Imatra - Bongioanni), Before long, they had established themselves as the break of the day, and built a lead of around three minutes.
However, that gap began to fall 90km from the finish as the pace in the peloton increased significantly in anticipation of potential crosswinds. The gaps were made at the back of the peloton rather than from out the front, and none of the top GC contenders were caught out, but the action was enough to see the three riders caught 78km from the finish.
After another lull lasting about 10km, things kicked off again 67km from the finish, as a group of a dozen riders used the wind to go off the front of the peloton. Just like yesterday, Borghini, Wiebes and Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) made the split, along with big names Ferrand Prevot, Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).
Things did calm down again, however, and they were brought back 55km from the finish.
Capitalising on the slow-down that followed, Cofidis initiated a new attack 27km from the finish, with their duo of Victoire Berteau and Amalie Dideriksen going clear with Marta Lach (Team SD Worx - Protime).
However, with such a stern test to come in the shape of the Jebel Hafeet, this attack was always likely to be short-lived, and they were all brought back once the elite climbers came to the fore on its uphill slopes.
Stephen Puddicombe is a freelance writer based in Bristol. He has written for Cyclingnews since 2020, and has covered cycling professionally as a freelancer since 2013, writing for outlets such as Rouleur, Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport, among other publications. He is the author of The World of the Tour de France, published by Sona Books. Outside of cycling he is a passionate cinephile, and a long-suffering Spurs fan.
