Rüegg comes of age in Salvaterra de Miño
May 3 rd 2026 - 14:52 [GMT + 2]
Noemi Rüegg won the first stage of La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es, decided by an uphill sprint in Salvaterra de Miño. The Swiss rider overpowered Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime) and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) in the final two hundred metres to reward the excellent work of her EF Education-Oatly teammates throughout the stage. This is arguably the best victory to date for the 25-year-old sprinter, who came to the Spanish grand tour following an excellent start of the season. Rüegg also became the leader of the overall standings, tied with FDJ’s Koch who scored six bonus seconds in the day's intermediate sprint to fall just short from claiming La Roja. Despite the many splits throughout the day, no meaningful gaps were set in the GC, which will continue to take shape in Monday’s second stage between Lobios and San Cibrao das Viñas, that also features an uphill finish seemingly well-suited to Rüegg’s qualities.
126 riders took the start in La Vuelta Femenina 26 by Carrefour.es, which began with a 113.9-kilometre stage from Marín, a beautiful coastal town sitting in the Ría de Pontevedra, to Salvaterra de Miño, a village just one bridge away from Portugal. The course was intense and hilly throughout the day, and the final kilometre dragged uphill at a 4% average, with slopes up to 8% - two factors that combined to make this an open race, and a hard one to call. The racing began as of 11.35 CEST under a mild rain that was on and off all stage long, and no proper breakaway was established despite short-lived attempts from riders like Andrea Casagranda (Vini Fantini-Bepink) or Yuliia Biriukova (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi).
Squiban and Moolman, tied in the QOM standings
Biriukova herself tried to anticipate the sprint for the first categorised climb of this Vuelta Femenina, the Alto do Cruceiro (cat 3, km 38,4), yet was brought back just on time for Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) to climb full points ahead of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal). Both riders sprinted again atop the Alto da Portela (cat 3, km 49,4), with the South African rider taking the best of the French climber to create a tie at the top of the QOM classification. Whomever crossed the finish line first would claim the first polka dot jersey - and that turned out to be Squiban.
Koch takes six bonus seconds in the Intermediate Sprint
The race was agitated from the climbs on, as there were twisty, wet descents that opened up some gaps that were closed shortly after the downhill sections were over. Lea Lin Teutenberg (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) abandoned after two hours of racing. The Intermediate Sprint in Ponteareas (IS, km 91,5) heated up the race, with FDJ United-Suez performing a full lead-out for Franziska Koch to claim six bonus seconds that would be meaningful later on.
A hectic approach to the final sprint
A number of riders went down with 8 kilometres, causing some splits in the peloton and putting riders like Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) out of contention. SD Worx-Protime and EF Education-Oatly worked hard the run-in to Salvaterra de Miño to bring back a five-strong group with FDJ United-Suez’s Franziska Koch, Eva van Agt and Juliette Berthet, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma) and Alessia Vigilia (Uno-X) that had sneaked away in the hectic moments that followed the crashes. They were reeled back in with 3,5 kilometres to go. Movistar Team led the peloton under the red kite, with Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx) hitting the front 500 meters from home, the road already on the rise, leading out her teammate Lotte Kopecky before Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) took off from her wheel to claim the win ahead of the former rainbow jersey and snatch La Roja from Koch.
