Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) had been chasing that big victory for some time, until stage 1 of the 2026 Vuelta Femenina saw the Swiss rider cross the line first. The stage win and resulting red leader’s jersey marks another step up for the 25-year-old.
"It's absolutely insane," Rüegg said. "I honestly can’t really believe it. It’s just a dream, to win a Grand Tour stage."
Beating Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) in a hard uphill sprint in Salvaterra de Miño, Rüegg took her first individual WorldTour victory in Europe.
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After two seasons with Jumbo-Visma in 2022 and 2023 (when she was part of the team winning the Vuelta Femenina opening TTT), Rüegg signed for EF Education-Oatly for the 2024 season. She won her very first race for the team, the 1.1 Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx, and later added the Swiss road race title.
But what was even more striking was her extreme consistency; Rüegg was at the pointy end of almost every race she entered, finishing 6th overall in the Vuelta a Burgos, 7th in the Olympic Road Race, and 11th in the World Championships Road Race, among others.
In 2025, she won the queen stage and the general classification of the Tour Down Under in January and confirmed her upward trajectory with a host of top one-day results. The most outstanding of those was a third place in Milan-San Remo.
Returning to Australia as the defending champion, Rüegg again won the queen stage (beating a trio of UAE Team ADQ riders, no less) and the overall classification. In Milan-San Remo, she moved up a step on the podium, finishing runner-up behind Kopecky, and again proved her consistency in a Classics campaign where her worst placing was a 21st place in La Flèche Wallonne, otherwise finishing in the top-15 of six WorldTour one-day races.
As the Women’s WorldTour calendar switched to stage racing, Rüegg finally reached the top step of the podium in one of the very biggest events in the sport.
"I knew this finish was perfect for me. If I could draw my dream stage, it would end exactly like this," said Rüegg, in reference to the short climb to the line in Galicia, where an explosive uphill sprint was required.
"I knew I could trust in a long sprint, so I knew from the last corner I wanted to go full gas and all in. The team put me in a great position and I just went all out from the last corner. I didn't want to have any regrets. I had a gap pretty much immediately and was like 'ok just keep going', then I looked back and saw I could make it to the finish. It’s a dream.
"The team believed in me so much and it was big goal to go for the win, but the girls believed in it more than I did," Rüegg added, hinting at a level of confidence that will surely only grow from here.
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