La Vuelta Femenina GC standings – Who is leading the race after stage 1?

Swiss champion Noemi Rüegg swapped her pink EF Education-Oatly jersey for La Roja after winning the opening stage at the 2026 La Vuelta España Femenina on Sunday.

Rain throughout stage 1's 113.9 kilometres led to treacherous descents, cautious moves and a late crash, but Rüegg's blast from the peloton in the final 200 metres could not be matched across the uphill finish in Salvaterra de Miño. The two riders who reacted to her final acceleration could not make the pass, former world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) finishing second and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) in third.

Rüegg earned a 10-second bonus for the victory, but was tied on time for the GC lead with Koch as the German earned a six-second bonus at an early intermediate sprint and a four-second bonus for second place. As the stage winner, the Swiss rider took the red jersey and Koch is second overall.

Kopecky's work was rewarded with third overall, four seconds back. While Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) was 10th on the stage in the bunch sprint, she used bonus time to bump her to fourth on GC, eight seconds back.

A total of 53 riders completed stage 1 with the same time, so are all 10 seconds off the pace, setting up for a wide-open Vuelta across the next few days. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), who finished fourth on stage 1, was the leader of that pack in fifth position.

UAE Team ADQ duo Maeva Squiban and Karlijn Swinkels were in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) was caught in a downhill crash with 9km to go, but stormed back to the lead group in the final 500 metres for a seventh-place finish and eighth on GC. Her teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was one spot behind Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) to round out the top 10.

Before the slippery roads brought down Vos, contender Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) was caught behind a split in the peloton on a tricky section with 28km to go, and is now 2:23 off the pace.

By virtue of finishing in fifth place, Squiban will wear the polka dot mountain jersey tomorrow. Team Picnic-PostNL's Eleonora Ciabocco was awarded the prize for the day's most combative rider.

Stage 2 is a 109.8km rolling tester, with a short, steep ascent in the final kilometres before a short descent into San Cibrao das Viñas.

La Vuelta Femenina 2026 GC standings

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La Vuelta Femenina 2026 classifications and jerseys

There are four main classifications with distinct jerseys at La Vuelta Femenina.

Red leader's jersey – worn by the rider leading the overall GC standings

Green points jersey – worn by the rider who has won the most points, which are available in intermediate sprints and at the finish line

Polka dot climber's jersey – worn by the rider who has won the most points available at the top of every classified climb

White combative jersey – Worn daily by the rider deemed to have been the most combative on the previous day

Note, there is no young rider's classification at the Vuelta, like there is in other Grand Tours. There is a best team classification, which is denoted by red bib numbers.

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