Results Women’s Tour Down Under 2026 Stage 1 | Ally Wollaston storms to leader’s jersey after late catch on Willunga Hill

Ally Wollaston claimed the first leader’s jersey at the 2026 Women’s Tour Down Under with a powerful uphill sprint on Lower Willunga Hill, capping a nervous and chaotic opening stage around Willunga.

The 137.4 km stage looked set for a reduced sprint, but it was almost stolen by a long solo move from Alessia Vigilia. The Uno-X Mobility rider attacked early and spent close to 100 km off the front, building a lead of more than three minutes at one point and sweeping up points on the climbs to secure the Queen of the Mountains jersey.

Behind her, the bunch never fully settled. FDJ United-Suez gradually took control of the chase for Wollaston, with help later from teams like SD Worx-Protime and Picnic-PostNL. The pace rose sharply on the final lap, and tension in the peloton showed as several crashes hit the closing kilometres.

Vigilia still held half a minute with five kilometres to go and continued to fight all the way to the foot of the finishing ramp. She was finally caught inside the final 250 metres, where Wollaston launched a decisive acceleration that no one could match.

Josie Nelson sprinted to second for Picnic-PostNL ahead of Femke Gerritse of SD Worx-Protime. Vigilia was rewarded for her long escape with the QOM jersey, while Wollaston also leads the points classification, even though Nelson will wear that jersey on the road.

Stage two runs from Magill to Paracombe over 130.7 km and finishes with another uphill kick. After the way Wollaston handled the climb on day one, she will again be one of the riders to beat as the fight for the overall classification begins to take shape.