Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, attended the opening stage of the inaugural UAE Tour Women 2023 in Dubai on Thursday.
Sheikh Mohammed greeted the cyclists as they passed along Bu Kadra bridge. Also in attendance were Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, chairman of protocols for the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Saeed Hareb, secretary general of the Dubai Sports Council.
The first stage of the race was won by Charlotte Kool of Team DSM. Kool completed the 109km sprint stage in two hours, 47 minutes and 14 seconds to lead a Dutch one-two. Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx came in second, and UAE Team ADQ’s Chiara Consonni third.
"It’s an amazing feeling to be the first-ever winner of the UAE Tour Women and I still can’t believe it. I trained really hard for this race and to produce a nice sprint was incredible," Kool said after the win.
“There were a lot of crashes in the last kilometres and we lost some really strong riders, but thankfully I was able to produce a really strong sprint."
The tournament has drawn 120 professional riders representing 20 teams from across the world.
