"They wore themselves down trying to drop me": Noemi Rüegg used race profile to pull off 'Stannard' at Tour Down Under
Cycling
The season has barely just started and Noemi Rüegg already delivered one of the most epic performances we might see throughout the rest of this season. The setting: Tour Down Under, final stage with a double ascent up the Corkscrew Road. Rüegg is among the four best riders the second time up the 2.5-kilometer climb. The plottwist? Her rivals all wear the UAE Team ADQ colours.
Anyone would expect the team in numbers' advantage to bring home the victory that day, but history teaches us time and time again that things are not always as straightforward. While examples such as Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025 or Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2015 tend to come down to poor decisionmaking and team infighting, this time was different.
UAE trio Mavi García, Paula Blasi and Dominika Wlodarczyk pulled every trick out of their playbook to shake off the Swisswoman in their wheel, but on that day, Rüegg had legs not from this world. One of the most impressive individual showcases of power you'll witness, but Rüegg still insists it was all possible thanks to an excellent teamwork of the EF Education-Oatly.
"Mags [Vallieres] is a great champion on and off the bike," Rüegg praised the world champion on the Domestique Hotseat podcast. "We are really good friends. And yeah, it's amazing to have her working for me, being so committed. I think that's truly special and something you don't always see. I was so thankful for all her work, and still now I know that I couldn't have won this tour without her."
A gamble that paid off
Already the first of the two Corkscrew Road ascents saw fireworks of attacks and groups all over the road, but Rüegg did not panic and waited patiently for the race situation to calm down before the second time up. Later, she admitted that had she gone over the limit already on first ascent, it would have definitely cost her in the finale.
"I knew I needed to handle my effort pretty well because I still needed to go up there a second time. I didn’t want to go over the limit the first time, so I would still be able to be as fresh as possible for the second time. So we had to gamble a bit, and I knew I had Mags [Vallieres] with me, so we could chase it back."
"At the top of the Corkscrew I realised, okay, I'm now with the three UAE girls, and I knew that it’s gonna be a tough 5km to the finish because I knew what they were gonna do," said Rüegg. "But I also knew, I just had to be smart, I had to just close everything down immediately, don't wait too long."
Fortunately, the profile played into Rüegg's hand. "And the road was actually quite in my favour because it was a fast road, downhill, so I could make use of the slipstream a lot. So whenever they attacked, I just immediately followed, and then I could actually save a lot," said Rüegg. "I almost think that they killed themselves more than I had to kill myself to follow them. And at one point, yeah, I think they knew they're not going to get away."
In the end, Rüegg outsprinted the UAE trio in Campbelltown to take not only the stage victory but also overall title, becoming a back-to-back champion of Tour Down Under.
Rüegg will now take a short break from racing, before returning to action at Trofeo Binda in early March. Her spring block should culminate at the Vuelta España Femenina. "Hopefully I won't break my collarbone this year, like last year. And then I'll focus on the Tour de Suisse, the Tour de France that starts in Switzerland as well," said Rüegg.
Read also
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- What a gimmick
Rafionain-Glas06-11-2026 - Thats only cause he rides for UAE. In any other team he would be captain in many races atleast. UAE is just to crazymiguel06-11-2026
- He seems to be the rare athlete whose passion and curiosity about life beyond his sport equals his extraordinary achievements in it. It would be great for him to risk less of that life. He seems very grateful and joyful for what he has already attained.
MarkFour06-11-2026 - As much as I admire and even revere Wout, the less I know about his backside the better.MidnightRider06-11-2026
- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment