Cycling’s well-known race leader’s boost gives Wollaston wings on day two in Australia.
Ally Wollaston (Team FDJ United – Suez) wins stage two of the Santos Tour Down Under, on January 18, 2026 (Photo: Con Chronis/Getty Images)
Updated January 18, 2026 06:36AM
Ally Wollaston’s repeat success on day two of the Santos Tour Down Under is notable, and also far from the first time that a sprinter has rode the crest of a wave to another success.
The sport is full of examples of fast-twitch riders triumphing and then following up once again in the days that follow. That’s even more so the case when the initial win secures a race leader’s jersey, with the combined momentum of a victory plus a GC lead producing a synergistic boost to riders.
The saying about a yellow jersey giving you wings is a well-known one, and even if Wollaston was cloaked on the ochre leader’s tunic on Sunday rather than an actual maillot jaune, the result was the same.
She survived the climbs of the course and then swept past EF Education-Oatly’s Noemi Rüegg close to the line in Paracombe.
Wollaston was elated with the win, but was quick to emphasise how deep she had to dig to hold on overall.
“I suffered a lot today, I think it was the heat, I wasn’t quite used to it,” she said. “I just didn’t have the greatest feeling out there today.
“I actually said to the girls, ‘I’m not feeling good,’ and it would have been so frustrating for them to ride with me today, because I found it so hard to move up. But in the last 10k something really just switches mentally.
“If I know it is going to come down to a sprint, then something happens in the brain and then I was there at the front. I am so, so happy.”
The 25 year old from New Zealand articulated perfectly how a confident sprinter rides. They recognize their strengths and their weaknesses, and suffer through the latter to be able to draw upon the former.
She clung on over the hills and then when things started to fall into place, her ambition and instinct took over.
Dygert shows promising form
Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto) has shown fine form in the race (Photo: Con Chronis/Getty Images)
Wollaston is coming off the back of her best ever season in 2025. She won the Tour of Britain Women and took other successes. Saturday’s stage one win in the Santos Tour Down Under was the 18th of her career and while Sunday’s stage two was considerably more difficult, she vowed to fight.
“I will try and do it justice tomorrow,” she pledged. “I think it would be rude not to. You have to respect a jersey like this in the WorldTour.”
Sunday’s 130.7km stage from Magill would push her and her team, though, with the 1896 vertical meters making it tough for her characteristics.
The pressure was ramped up when attack after attack was fired off. The moves were continuously being launched off, even after the Finnish rider Wilma Aintila (Canon-SRAM Zondacrypto) went clear in a long solo break.
She got over a minute and half but was finally reeled in about 50km from the home. Rider after rider tried to get clear between there and the finish, with a move containing the American Chloé Dygert (Canyon SRAM Zondacrypto), the Canadian Szara Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal), Julia Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) gaining 15 seconds.
Dygert was left doing most of the work and while the in-form rider launched attack after attack to try to get clear, there was no fending off the sprinters behind.
“It was bloody tough,” Wollaston said after her win. “It was a really, really tough day out there today. I actually wouldn’t say it was perfect from the team, I think it was a pretty big … maybe not [quite] error on our part to miss that move, but it put a lot of pressure on our team to chase in the final. We are lucky that we had the strength to bring it back, it was pretty touch and go there.”
Is the overall win on the cards?
Ally Wollaston says she will give it everything to try to hold on during Monday’s final stage of the race (Photo: Con Chronis/Getty Images)
Wollaston’s performance showed a not-atypical response to good form and a leader’s jersey, with the Kiwi pushing her limits and exceeding expectations as a result.
She’ll hope to do the same on Monday’s concluding stage, although the two ascents of the category one Corkscrew Road close to the finish will offer opportunity to the specialist climbers.
She’s led this race before, winning the opening stage two years ago, and while she lost half a minute the following day, things are going better this time around.
“I think it is a really good step in my development to still have the jersey going into stage three,” she smiled.
“The last time I was in this jersey it didn’t end too well for me. So I am really excited to take it into tomorrow.”
However she accepts it will be tough. She played down the suggestion that her ongoing evolution has made her a bit of a climber.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she laughed. “It could be a miracle if I make it over tomorrow, but I will still give it a red hot crack.”
What will help is the race leader’s jersey stretched across her shoulders. As she showed Sunday, it has a way of helping riders raise their game, and she’ll hope for the same again Monday.