Under sunny conditions, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders set off for the first competitive road kilometres of the season. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot made her official return to the road after a successful career as a mountain bike rider and survived the first stage without any problems. The 32-year-old Frenchwoman has her sights set on Saturday's stage, which features a finish atop Jebel Hafeet.

The 149-kilometre opening stage in and around Dubai ended in a bunch sprint after the early breakaway was caught at three kilometres from the finish. Veenhoven was led to the front by her teammates in the final kilometres and entered the sprint on the right side of the road. The youngster came on strong, but could not prevent Wiebes from taking the win.

"This is a good way to start the season", Veenhoven said. "I already felt good the past few days and knew I was capable of riding a good sprint. During the stage I started to feel better and better and when the sprint came, I wanted to take my chance. Of course I would have preferred to win, but Lorena is still too fast at the moment. Third place was the highest possible today."

Veenhoven, who will wear the white jersey tomorrow as best young rider, expresses her gratitude to her teammates. "We executed the plan exactly as we had in mind. We wanted to move to the front at three kilometres from the finish and we succeeded", said Veenhoven, who had an ideal pacer in Martina Fidanza. "To follow her like that is super nice and instructive."

Veenhoven feels she made progression last winter. "I think I have made a step forward in terms of positioning. I am now immediately in a good position to sprint and that was not always the case last year." Another sprint opportunity may await Veenhoven tomorrow. "Hopefully we can continue this line."