2026 Tour Down Under Women Stage 3 Results & Recap
Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour Down Under Women is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Noemi Rüegg Delivers on Final Day\nBy Clara Beard
Noemi Rüegg (EF Education–Oatly) gave a strong performance on the final stage of the Santos Tour Down Under, winning a four-rider sprint after a chaotic finish at Corkscrew Road and turning the general classification around to secure her second consecutive overall victory. During the critical double ascent, despite intense pressure from UAE Team ADQ, Rüegg held her own, responded to every attack, and outpaced three UAE teammates to claim both the stage win and the ochre jersey.
The 126-kilometre stage from Norwood was aggressive from the start, with Carina Schrempf (Fenix–Premier Tech) and Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx–Protime) forming a long-range break that ballooned to more than five minutes due to the lack of urgency in the peloton. Their advantage evaporated once the race reached the business end, with EF Education–Oatly and UAE Team ADQ lifting the tempo ahead of the feared Corkscrew Road.
UAE Team ADQ tried repeatedly to force the race on the climbs, with Dominika Wlodarczyk cresting the first ascent solo and later launching a strong attack on the second passage. Paula Blasi Cairol and Margarita Victo Garcia Cañellas backed up the move, creating a three-against-one scenario against Rüegg at the top. But the Swiss rider refused to crack, using the fast descent and her finishing speed to neutralize every move.
Inside the final kilometres, Rüegg shut down the last UAE attacks before unleashing a decisive sprint to the line, taking the stage win and ten bonus seconds which moved her into the overall lead ahead of Garcia and Blasi, sealing a dramatic GC comeback on the race’s most challenging day.
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