'I knew I just had to be smart' - Noemi Rüegg’s masterclass against UAE Trio at Tour Down Under

Noemi Rüegg's victory on stage 3 of the Santos Women's Tour Down Under was reminiscent of when Neilson Powless won Dwars door Vlaanderen last April, beating the Visma | Lease a Bike trio of Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot, and Matteo Jorgenson in unlikely fashion. Despite a three versus one battle at the finish line in Campbelltown, Rüegg insisted that the victory was a team effort.

The Swiss rider had initially been distanced from the front of the race on the first ascent of the Corkscrew Road climb, but was able to return thanks to the aid of her teammate and world champion Magdeleine Vallieres, something that had been part of the original plan from the EF Education-Oatly team.

“Mags [Vallieres] is a great champion on and off the bike. We are really good friends. And yeah, it's amazing to have her working for me, being so committed. I think that's truly special and something you don't always see,” said Rüegg on the Domestique Hotseat.

“I was so thankful for all her work, and still now I know that I couldn't have won this tour without her. But yeah, we went with this plan into the race that I'm the GC leader, and she was also fine with this coming here.”

With two ascents of the difficult Corkscrew Road climb on the menu, Rüegg admitted that she could have gone deeper on the first ascent to stay with the front of the race, but is confident that it would have cost her later in the stage.

“I knew I needed to handle my effort pretty well because I still needed to go up there a second time. I didn’t want to go over the limit the first time, so I would still be able to be as fresh as possible for the second time. So we had to gamble a bit, and I knew I had Mags [Vallieres] with me, so we could chase it back."

On the second ascent, Rüegg crucially made the front split of the race with the UAE Team ADQ climbing trio of Paula Blasi, Maví García, and Dominika Włodarczyk. From the climb’s summit, just over five kilometres of fast descending remained, and the Swiss rider had braced herself for an onslaught of attacks from the UAE riders.

“At the top of the Corkscrew I realised, okay, I'm now with the three UAE girls, and I knew that it’s gonna be a tough 5km to the finish because I knew what they were gonna do,” said Rüegg. “But I also knew, I just had to be smart, I had to just close everything down immediately, don't wait too long.”

Despite numerous attempts from the UAE trio to break free from the Swiss rider, the downhill run-in played to the advantage of Rüegg. 

“And the road was actually quite in my favour because it was a fast road, downhill, so I could make use of the slipstream a lot. So whenever they attacked, I just immediately followed, and then I could actually save a lot,” said Rüegg.

“I almost think that they killed themselves more than I had to kill myself to follow them. And at one point, yeah, I think they knew they're not going to get away.”

In the end, Rüegg outsprinted the UAE trio in Campbelltown to take not only the stage victory but also become only the second rider, after Amanda Spratt, to defend her title and win multiple editions of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under. 

After starting the season in the best way possible, Rüegg will take a short break from racing in February, before returning to action with the Italian Classics and the Vuelta España Femenina. “Hopefully I don't break my collarbone this year, like last year. And then I'll focus on the Tour de Suisse, the Tour de France that starts in Switzerland as well,” said Rüegg.

Listen to the full Hotseat podcast with Noemi Rüegg 👇