“I was just hanging on” - Shari Bossuyt stuns with late surge on chaotic, crash-marred stage 2 at La Vuelta Femenina 2026

Shari Bossuyt was not the rider expected to win Stage 2 of La Vuelta Femenina 2026. Not on a day that fractured the race, and not from the position she found herself in approaching the final kilometre. Yet in San Cibrao das Viñas, she timed it perfectly.

“This victory means a lot to me. I was not expecting to pull this off, and especially not today,” she said afterwards. “At the final kilometre, I was just hanging on.”

The second stage never settled. An uphill start and constant pressure kept the pace high, with no real opportunity for the peloton to reset.

By the final phase, that effort had reduced the group to its strongest riders. Bossuyt was still there, but only just. “I tried to move up, but it was not possible because of the high pace and I was quite far off the back,” she explained.

The stage shifted again in the closing kilometres. Race leader Noemi Ruegg crashed and was forced to abandon, removing the red jersey and opening the general classification in an instant. At the same time, the reduced group heading to the finish remained tightly packed, with no clear control.

Bossuyt’s opportunity came just after the climb. “And then on the downhill ahead of the finish I came with a lot of speed out of the corner and just went for my sprint,” she said. “We had a plan for me to fight in the sprint, but it depended a lot on what happened on the climb in the final five kilometres. I managed to hold on and then finish it off.”

In a finale shaped by hesitation and fatigue, that move proved decisive.

Behind her, others had arrived with clearer expectations. Lotte Kopecky was in position before her sprint faltered, while several general classification contenders focused on limiting losses after the disruption earlier in the finale.

Bossuyt’s win came from a different place. Not from control, but from recognising the moment when it opened. On a stage defined by chaos, the rider who was “just hanging on” was the one who finished it.