The opening two stages of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under were not easy by any stretch of the imagination – but right from the beginning when it comes to the overall battle, all eyes have been firmly trained on stage 3.
There is a good reason for that, or perhaps two, given the double ascent of Corkscrew Rd that is on the agenda on Monday.
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The GC situation with one day remaining has Wollaston with a 14-second advantage to second-placed Josie Nelson (Picnic PostNL) – another sprinter but one who has spent a considerable period during her off-season working on her climbing – while defending champion Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) sits 17 seconds back.
Olivia Baril (Movistar) is fourth at 19 seconds, Marta Lach (SD Worx-Protime) fifth at 22, Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike) sixth at 23 and than there is a group of 21 riders lined up at 24 seconds back.
An uphill battle in the stage 2 sprint (Image credit: Con Chronis/Getty Images)Pole position but still a challenging defence
As last year’s winner, and with a climbing ability that was on display as she claimed the Willunga hill stage last year, Rüegg is the rider who looks to be in pole position heading into the final day, though the target on her back will be considerable. Her team is not underestimating the degree of difficulty involved in delivering the victory two years running.
“We know that Noemi is very strong, and she’s very committed to try to do it again, and the whole team around her is committed to support her,” Foder told Cyclingnews before the second stage unfolded.
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“And of course, we try to do everything possible, but to do it two years in a row is always difficult. That said, I’m very positive that she will be up there and yeah, of course, we will do everything we can in order to make it happen.”
There will, however, be a substantial group lined up close to Rüegg on the results sheet that will be doing everything they can to make sure there is a different winner in 2026 to 2025.
Among that group of 21 riders sitting 24 seconds back from Wollaston is some serious climbing firepower from three-time race winner Amanda Spratt as well as Gaia Realini for Lidl-Trek, Giro d’Italia stage winner Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), and for the home Liv AlUla Jayco squad, Ella Wyllie. But probably most notably, there is a particularly dangerous trio from UAE Team ADQ consisting of Mavi GarcÃa, Dominika Wlodarczyk and Paula Blasi.
“I’m quite sure we have one of the strongest teams now here, especially going up,” said Blasi after being awarded the Queen of the Mountains jersey after stage 2. “Domi and Mavi, I think they are our main cards so, for me, I will be happy working for them because I really trust them and I think we can do a really good job.”
No matter who wins, there is one certainty and that is that the double Corkscrew climb so close to the finish will deliver an action packed stage that leaves the suspense building to the very end in a tour that has upped the ante.
“It is a significant climb, and the first time we’ve had two of them as well, so it’s really good to see stages in this year’s Tour Down Under that are longer and harder,” said Liv AlUla Jayco sports director Jess Allen, who also raced the event five times. “That’s something we’ve been fighting for for a few years now, so it’s really positive to see the tour going in this direction.”
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