Rüegg blasts to victory in tricky La Vuelta Femenina opener

Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) powered her way to victory in an uphill finish in Salvaterra de Miño at the end of a tricky opening stage of La Vuelta Femenina.

With inclement weather conditions and a twisty run-in to the finish, a crash inside the final 10km saw the peloton split, with plenty of riders caught out. 

Those who managed to navigate the chaos contested the uphill finish in Salvaterra de Miño. Rüegg produced a turn of speed that nobody could match, and the 25-year-old Swiss rider has enough time to celebrate victory and the first red jersey ahead of Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) in 2nd and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ) in 3rd.

It marks the seventh victory of Rüegg’s career and third WorldTour success of 2026, adding to the stage win and GC success at the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under in January.

It was a rainy start to the 2026 La Vuelta Femenina, and there was no breakaway proper able to be established as the top teams kept control of the race.

Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ) won the bonus sprint in Ponteareas with 20km remaining, gaining six bonus seconds in the GC. A split formed at the front of the peloton just a few kilometres later, but it was quickly knitted together. 

The peloton was stretched out significantly inside the final 10km, and there was a crash on a corner with 8km remaining that involved multiple riders. As a result of the crash and the stretched-out peloton, a group of five riders found themselves clear of the peloton. 

The quintet included Juliette Berthet, Koch, and Eva van Agt (FDJ United-SUEZ), Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Alessia Vigilia (Uno-X Mobility), with their advantage under 10 seconds to the first half of a split peloton, with 5km to go.

The catch was made with 4,5km remaining, but Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) was among the riders chasing back to the front part of the peloton. Vos was helped back to the peloton by her Visma teammates with 1.7km remaining, and faced a frantic battle to move into position ahead of the sprint. 

Movistar led inside the final kilometre as the road began to rise before SD Worx moved to the front with 500 metres to go. However, there was simply no match for Ruegg when the Swiss rider launched her acceleration, taking an impressive victory on the opening stage.