‘It baffles me!’ – Blythe stumped over lack of fight for breakaway at UAE Tour

Adam Blythe has said he cannot understand why there is not a bigger fight for the breakaway ahead of the third stage of the women’s UAE Tour.

Team SD Worx rider Lorena Wiebes held the lead with Chiara Consonni in second and Rachele Barbieri third ahead of Saturday’s third stage – a climb from Al Ain to Jebel Hafeet – following the first two sprint stages in Dubai and Modon

Blythe told the Eurosport’s The Breakaway he was “baffled” as to why there was a lack of a battle at the front of the race, with only a small handful of the 114 riders in with a chance of contending with the current leaders.

“It’s ridiculous, genuinely,” Blythe said. “Well, it’s not ridiculous that’s harsh, but you think today, tomorrow is going to be another sprint day, the first two stages sprints – if you haven’t got a sprint in your team or know you’re not going to win, you’ve got to take your opportunity to try and get in the breakaway more and try and push the tempo a little bit.

“Today is a day where that peloton will let the breakaway go because they’ve got half an hour, roughly, of climbing at the end so they can let that breakaway go out for six, seven or eight minutes almost.

“For teams, you’d think ‘This is a day we can get something from, some success. We might get 2k to finish, we might get near the finish, we don’t know what will happen behind, so let’s get out there and really give it to them’.”

Blythe added: “You’ve got to come to a race here and you’ve got to get something out of it. You’re paid to race your bike, and they’re all racing, yes, but today in that peloton, riding along as they are, you question it.”

“Sometimes you wonder what the sports directors are thinking. A day like today where you can really go out and really push on, make a name for yourself, get your jersey on telly. Try and do something, it baffles me!”

Fellow Eurosport pundit Dani Rowe feels Saturday’s race has the right conditions for riders to make a name for themselves.

“It’s also a good opportunity to get your jersey out there, get your sponsors out there,” she told The Breakaway.

“Look at the massive audience that women’s cycling have got now. You see it on the men’s when they’re attacking from literally the flag drop, so I’m surprised it wasn’t more aggressive.

“There’s not much wind out there either, on days one and two, riders weren’t trying to attack because the wind neutralises that so much. There’s absolutely no point, you’re going to get hung out to dry.

“But on a day like today, you can get yourself out there but also there’s a chance that you can get a few minutes up the road, start that climb and never say never as to winning the race. Why not try something?”