Franziska Koch: “It’s been a perfect start for this Vuelta”

May 4 ^th 2026 - 18:02 [GMT + 2]

Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) is the new overall leader of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es after Stage 2.

“It’s been a perfect start for this Vuelta. I can be really happy. We knew it was going to be a hard stage, but we have a strong team here. We wanted to properly start racing after the intermediate sprint. As there was a break, there were no seconds for grabs anymore at the sprint, yet we wanted to make the race hard into the final, as it was technical and there was this final climb.”

“It was not a perfect sprint for me. I was a bit too far off the front, and then they stopped sprinting right in front of me, so the bunch came from behind. I could begin the sprint in Kopecky’s wheel, but then she also had some bad luck. I’m not sure of what happened exactly, but she couldn’t sprint anymore and I had to go around her. It was a bit of a messy sprint, but I’m happy with my second place. I have so much fun racing with my team and, if you enjoy what you do and you are in a good group, it works out. I hope I can successfully defend La Roja in the next stages.”