{"id":548844,"date":"2026-03-20T11:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/548844\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T11:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:06:08","slug":"noemi-ruegg-returns-to-sanremo-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/548844\/","title":{"rendered":"Noemi R\u00fcegg returns to Sanremo-Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

She came over the top with the front group and plummeted down the descent, surfing wheels as the race roared towards the Via Roma. Noemi<\/a> burst out of the final chicane and saw the finish line \u2013 a blurring tunnel of cheering fans and the final banner. A bump of handlebars slowed her sprint, but she kicked with everything she had left. She rocketed across the line in third, ending the first-ever women\u2019s edition of La Primavera on the podium<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Noemi is going in to the 2026 edition of the Italian Monument with greater ambitions and even better form. After her victory at the Tour Down Under<\/a> in January, Noemi had a strong start to the European racing season. She is excited and nervous for Sanremo-Women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nerves are slowly coming, but I think that is a good sign,\u201d the former Swiss champ said on her way to the race hotel in Genova after wrapping up a training camp in Ticino, Switzerland. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast year showed that this parcours suits me really well. Sanremo was one of the coolest races that I did last year, not only because of the result, but also because of how we rode as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without her teammates, Noemi never would have had the chance to sprint on the Via Roma and stand on the podium at the inaugural Sanremo-Women.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first edition, so we didn’t really know what to expect,\u201d Noemi said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone really did. We stayed together really closely as a team, but there were a few times where we got in a bit of trouble because of crashes or being caught behind crashes and needed to chase the peloton down.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, EF Education-Oatly\u2019s racers want to use their firepower to go on the offense instead of riding defense. Solbj\u00f8rk Anderson<\/a>, Henrietta Christie<\/a>, Stina Kagevi<\/a>, Alice Towers<\/a>, C\u00e9drine Kerbaol,<\/a> and Noemi know that they have strength to shape the race going into and over the Cipressa and the Poggio. Noemi doesn\u2019t need to hold back and wait for the sprint. She can punch her way over the climbs with the best. She has proven that two years in a row with her blistering, winning attacks in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this year is going to be way harder than last year,\u201d Noemi said. \u201cTeams have realized that in order to beat the pure sprinters, we need to drop them early. I expect a really, really hard race, already from the Capo Mele and Capo Berta, the climbs before the Cipressa. It is in our interest to make the race as hard as possible to come to the finish in a smaller group.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 156 kilometers of coastal road swooping along the Riviera dei Fiori between the start in Genova and the iconic finish on the elegant Art Nouveau streets of Sanremo, they will have lots of opportunity to work up an advantage over their rivals. The key to Sanremo-Women is to get to the decisive climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio fresher than the rest of the pack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really important to stay in the moment, stay focused, and not think too far ahead,\u201d Noemi said. \u201cYou just want to focus on what you’re doing right now, because it’s a long race and a lot can happen. Positioning is super crucial. By the descent of the Cipressa, you have to be in front. We were a bit caught out there last year. We were in the second group and had to chase back. If we can save that kind of energy this time, that would be ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Noemi will be surrounded by her teammates from the moment the commissaire\u2019s flag drops. They are just as excited for the race as Noemi, and their enthusiasm gives her great confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really strong supportive crew,\u201d Noemi said. \u201cHenri and Alice are really, really good at making sure that we stay out of trouble and keep out of the wind and keep safe. We have done a lot of races together already, like in Australia. And then we have Stina and Solbj\u00f8rk, who are still developing a bit, but are also very strong. They will make sure we are safe in the first part and cover any dangerous moves and attacks and then try to press on over the Cipressa, to help C\u00e9drine and me get into the finale to play our cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the race hits its iconic final climbs, all of the training that Noemi and her teammates have done together will take over, as the race hurtles towards the finish at full speed. They trust each other, their own instincts, and all of the strength they have honed to be able to make the right moves on the fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hit the Poggio, there are a lot of thoughts, but also not a lot of thoughts, because you’re so in your tunnel that you don’t really realize what else is going on anymore,\u201d Noemi said. \u201cIt just comes really naturally, like your body just knows what to do. You try to be in good position, and then you know it’s just going to hurt for the next five minutes. But with all of the adrenaline in the race, you don’t really feel that pain that much. It\u2019s just a great feeling to be racing up these climbs, following the attacks. You try and dig as deep as you can and do the best you can in every second.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Noemi and her teammates can do that on Saturday, they can achieve great things at Sanremo-Women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She came over the top with the front group and plummeted down the descent, surfing wheels as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-548844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}