Alison Jackson out of UAE Women’s Tour with broken scaphoid

The opening stage of the women’s UAE Tour was marred by a massive crash with just over 50 km to go. The peloton was trying to pull back a breakaway of three riders when, on the left side of the road, a Liv AlUla Jayco rider went down in the 149-km stage from Dubai Police Officer’s Club to Dubai Harbour.

That resulted in a slew of others hitting the deck. Among those caught in the crash were Alison Jackson, Vittoria Guazzini, Karlijn Swinkels, Elizabeth Deignan, Mavi García, Sofie van Rooijen, Ashleigh Moolman, Julie De Wilde, Marta Lach, and Antonia Niedermaier.

Large crash affects race, but sprinters prevail

Letizia Paternoster did not get up to rejoin the peloton, although Jackson would finish the stage in 11th.

After the crash, the break got a bit of time on the pack—Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Sylvie Swinkels (Roland), and Inda Laporta (BePink-Imatra-Bongioanni) tried to hold on, but the sprinters’ teams would ultimately take over, and Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime) took the win.

After the race, her team posted an update on Alison Jackson after her crash on Stage 1 of the UAE Women’s Tour: “X-rays confirmed a broken scaphoid, and she will not start Stage 2 tomorrow. She is currently undergoing further tests to determine whether the break will require surgery.”

Good news for recovery

The second update confirmed that the 2023 Paris-Roubaix winner will not require surgery for the broken scaphoid. The team said she will travel home to rest and recover.

Wiebes took Stage 2 as well and held onto the overall lead.

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There are three other Canadians racing—Human Powered Health’s Maggie Coles-Lyster, Movistar’s Olivia Baril, Jackson’s new teammate Alexandra Volstad, as well as Adèle Normand (St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 WE).

Stage 3 goes from Al Ain Qasr Al Muwaiji to Jebel Hafeet for a total of 152 km.

You can watch the races on FloBikes.com.