Red jersey Noemi Rüegg crashes out of La Vuelta Femenina

Race leader Noemi Rüegg was forced to abandon La Vuelta Femenina after she crashed heavily on stage 2 to San Cibrao das Viñas. 

The EF Education-Oatly rider crashed when she appeared to lose hold of her handlebars with 13km remaining, bringing white jersey Elena Ciabocco (Picnic-PostNL) down with her.

Both riders remounted after a delay, but EF Edudcation-Oatly confirmed shortly afterwards that Rüegg had abandoned the race, adding that medical checks were “ongoing.”

Rüegg had powered to victory and the maillot rojo on the opening stage of La Vuelta Femenina on Sunday, beating Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx Protime) and Franziska Koch (FDJ United Suez) to the line in Salvaterra de Miño.

The Swiss rider’s abandon means that Koch is now the new race leader of the Vuelta after she placed second on stage 2. Later that evening, her team announced that Rüegg had suffered a fracture to her right shoulder, which will require surgery.

Koch and her FDJ United-Suez squad were prominent in the undulating finale of Monday’s stage, but she was beaten to the line in the reduced bunch sprint by Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance Soudal), who overcame being bumped by Kopecky in the finishing straight.

“Today was pretty close. I thought I was in a good position, and then they stopped sprinting in front of me so that was a bit of bad luck. But Kopecky had bad luck, too, so no final is perfect,” Koch told Eurosport after the finish and before she realised she had done enough to take over the maillot rojo.

Koch collected a six-second time bonus for placing second on the stage, and that leaves her in the red jersey with a lead of six seconds over Bossuyt. 

Kopecky is third overall, ten seconds down, despite being relegated from 15th to 36th on the stage for her manoeuvre in the finishing straight on stage 2. The Belgian refused to discuss the incident when speaking to Eurosport immediately after the finish. “I think you all saw, I don’t want to say anything about this,” Kopecky said.