Noemi Rüegg has successfully defended her title at the Santos Women's Tour Down Under. The 24-year-old Swiss rider from Team EF Education-Oatly crowned her strong performance with a stage win on the challenging final stage to Athelstone. Rüegg demonstrated tactical skill and exceptional climbing ability on the queen stage with two climbs over the steep Corkscrew Road, which had a maximum gradient of 19.8 per cent. In the finale, she left three riders from UAE Team ADQ behind her and secured both the stage win and the overall victory in the Australian tour. "We went into the race with the ambition of defending the overall classification and also taking a stage win," explained Rüegg after her triumph. "I knew that I was in good form, but I still wasn't entirely sure. I didn't know how good I would actually be. But the team believed in me so much and we had a plan every day, which we implemented. Everyone was so committed and trusted me. Every day we were able to implement our plan almost perfectly, and today we even managed to do it perfectly." What stood out was that the Swiss rider won on a previously unreleased successor to Cannondale's SuperSix Evo.
Exciting race with early attacks
Long before the decision on Corkscrew Road, the race was characterised by tactical moves. Austrian rider Carina Schrempf launched an early attack and built up a lead of 45 seconds. The main group with the favourites for the overall classification, including the winner of the Santos Ochre Jersey, Ally Wollaston, who had won the first two stages of the tour, initially held back. However, Mikayla Harvey from Team SD Worx - Protime and Rosita Reinhout from Team Visma | Lease a Bike countered and closed the gap to Schrempf. Harvey and Schrempf eventually formed the front of the race and extended their lead to six minutes at times. It was only when the peloton reached Gorge Road and approached the first climb to Corkscrew Road that the gap to the breakaway narrowed.
Dramatic finale at Corkscrew Road
The decisive moment of the race came in the last 500 metres before the finish, when Rüegg was up against the numerical superiority of UAE Team ADQ with Dominika Włodarczyk, Paula Blasi and Mavi García. The Swiss rider initially struggled on the first climb to Corkscrew Road, but found her way back into the race with the help of her team-mate and world champion Magdeleine Vallieres. Rüegg showed her class in the second attack on the notorious climb and positioned herself perfectly for the final. "I knew that if I went into the last 500 metres with them, nothing could happen," said Rüegg. "I didn't want to believe in victory too early, but it's just madness." UAE Team ADQ, which was represented by three riders in the final, was unable to capitalise on its numerical advantage. "We misunderstood each other in the last 500 metres," admitted Blasi, who won the Tour's mountain classification. "We didn't communicate well and tried to play our cards before the finish line."
Leon Weidner
Working student
