• Country

Narváez Wins Tour Down Under for UAE, Rüegg Surprises in Women’s Race

By Siegfried Mortkowitz

It’s not the Alpe d’Huez but for the Santos Tour Down Under, the 373-metre Willunga Hill has been, and was again this year, the king- and queen-maker. Both Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates –XRG) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education–Oatly) won their respective races by being the fastest on the ascent (3.3 km @ 7.3%) to the summit of the iconic little mountain.

For two-time Ecuadorian champion Narváez, who finished second in this race last year for INEOS Grenadiers, this was his first victory in a World Tour multi-stage race and a great way to show the leader of his new team, Tadej Pogačar, that he has another rider he could count on to deliver the goods.

“It means a lot for me, also for the team,” he said on Sunday, after the final stage. “It’s my first year [with the team], and a start like this is awesome.”

When the route of this year’s race was announced, it was clear that it would be won by a rider who could win the penultimate stage atop Willunga Hill and then ride smart enough to stay in the mix on the flat and very fast final stage, which was won by the Australian Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe sprinter Sam Welsford, his third victory of the race and his sixth in two years. Talk about horses for courses.

“My boys are so good,” Welsford said of his team, which included lead-out great Danny van Poppel. “Today, [they] took control. In the end, just amazing. We came here with big goals and ticked them off pretty well. I think to win three stages and third on GC is something to be proud of.”

Narváez went into the decisive fifth stage trailing the Movistar rider Javier Romo by four seconds. Romo was the first to attack on the second, and final, ascent of Willunga Hill, with the recently triple-crowned Australian champion Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) leading the chase. Five riders went into the final sprint, with the Ecuadorian proving the fastest. Oscal Onley (Picnic PostNL) finished second, just ahead of Finn Fischer-Black (Red Bull–BORA–Hansgrohe). Plapp finished 3 seconds off the podium, fending off Romo.

The final stage was marked by a mass crash on a turn leading into the bunch sprint. But Narváez was well ahead of the incident and finished coolly to take a well-deserved victory. “Three crashes in the last 3 [kilometres],” he said. “It’s not easy when 150 guys are trying to go into one corner at 70 kph. It’s dangerous, but it’s cycling and we saved the day.”

Narváez finished the race 9 seconds ahead of Romo, with the former UAE rider Fischer-Black finishing third, at 12 seconds, for his new team.

In the women’s race, which finished on January 19, Noemi Rüegg dominated the Willunga Hill ascent at the end of stage 2, with a crushing solo ride. She began her attack with about 2.5 km left to climb when she chased down two of the prerace favourites, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), as well as Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco).

Noemi Rüegg
Rüegg’s win was a surprise of the race. © Profimedia

When Smulders attacked in the final kilometre, only Rüegg was able to follow. She described what happened next as if it had been an accident. “We were the only two left, and [Smulders] attacked,” Rüegg said after the stage. “I followed her, and then I just went by myself. And I thought first, ‘Oh [expletive], this was too early. I cannot keep going like this.’ But then I looked back, and I had the gap, so I had no other choice. I had to just keep going.”

She won the stage by 10 seconds over Smulders, with a group of four riders, led by  Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility), finishing 26 seconds down. That was the 23-year-old Swiss rider’s first-ever World Tour stage win. On the third and final stage, she defended her lead valiantly against what seemed like an endless series of attacks to take the first World Tour stage race win of her young career.

Riding on her own, Rüegg faced one challenge after another in the final 30 km of the 105.9 km stage in and around Stirling and was forced to chase riders down repeatedly to protect her lead. Ultimately, she finished third in the stage, 1 second behind winner Chloé Dygert (CANYON–SRAM zondacrypto), to win the race by 13 seconds over Smulders, with Ottestad finishing third, at 37 seconds.

“Honestly, they didn’t make it easy for us,” Rüegg said after the race. “They tried a lot of moves, especially in the last two laps… I was just super nervous, honestly, the whole day, I was like, I really want to bring it home.”

Santos Tour Down Under: Results Men

  1. Jhonatan Narváez, UAE Team Emirates – XRG 19:19:16
  2. Javier Romo, Movistar Team                          + 0:09
  3. Finn Fisher-Black, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe    0:12
  4. Oscar Onley(GBR)Team Picnic PostNL                    0:15
  5. Bastien Tronchon, Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale   0:24
  6. Luke Plapp(AUS)Team Jayco–AlUla                                       “
  7. Magnus Sheffield, INEOS Grenadiers                       0:27
  8. Thomas Gloag, Visma–Lease a Bike    “
  9. Patrick Konrad, Lidl–Trek                    0:31
  10. Michael Woods, Israel–Premier Tech  0:47

Santos Tour Down Under: Results Women

  1. Noemi Rüegg, EF Education–Oatly 8:49:00
  2. Silke Smulders, Liv AlUla Jayco + 0:13
  3. Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, Uno-X Mobility 0:37
  4. Dominika Włodarczyk, UAE Team ADQ 0:40
  5. Elise Chabbey, FDJ–Suez “
  6. Justine Ghekiere, AG Insurance–Soudal 0:41
  7. Amanda Spratt, Lidl–Trek    0:49
  8. Neve Bradbury, Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto 0:56
  9. Ruth Edwards, Human Powered Health 0:59
  10. 10. Alice Towers, Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto 1:02