Swiss rider Noemi Rüegg takes her first grand tour stage win with standout uphill sprint.
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Noemi Ruegg (Team EF Education-Oatly) wins stage 1 of La Vuelta Femenina 2026 (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images) (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski)
Updated May 3, 2026 07:03AM
Noemi Rüegg scooped the opening stage and race lead in the Vuelta Femenina on Sunday, blitzing an uphill sprint to take the biggest win of her career thus far.
The Swiss rider was set up perfectly by her EF Education-Oatly team and she was clearly quickest when she launched inside 200m to go, outpacing Franzi Koch (FDJ United-Suez) and holding off Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime).
Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) was caught behind when several riders fell on a tight bend with 8.4km to go. She faced a long chase back, but still had enough in the tank to take seventh.
GC contenders Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM-Zondacrypto) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma Lease a Bike) were prominent, taking fourth and ninth, and showing they are ready for the hardest edition of the Vuelta thus far.
Koch took a six second bonus sprint during the stage and ended up level on time with Rüegg, but the latter takes the overall race lead.
The race continues Monday with another hilly stage.
More to follow soon