Noemi Ruegg from Switzerland has made history by winning the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia. On the final day of racing, American champion Chloe Dygert won the last stage, but Ruegg secured the overall title.
Competing for EF Education-Oatly, Ruegg finished third in the final sprint, enough to maintain her lead and win the season-opening event of the UCI World Tour. She is only the second non-Australian to take home the title in the race’s eight-year history.
The 23-year-old athlete built her victory with an impressive performance in the second stage, giving her a 15-second lead over Dutch rider Silke Smulders before the crucial final stage, which stretched 105.9 km through the Adelaide Hills.
Ruegg finished the race in 8 hours and 49 minutes, beating Smulders by 13 seconds, while Norway’s Mie Bjorndal Ottestad took third place, trailing by 37 seconds. “Today was challenging, and the competition was tough,” Ruegg shared. She added, “I was nervous, but my team supported me, allowing me to save energy for the last laps.”
Meanwhile, Dygert, a member of the American gold medal-winning pursuit team at the Paris Olympics, captured the final stage with just a one-second lead over Smulders and Ruegg. “Our goal was to win both the overall title and a stage, and we worked hard for it,” she said after the race.
The Tour Down Under has become a popular event, with the men’s competition starting soon, marking its 25th anniversary this year.
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