Shari Bossuyt won stage 2 of La Vuelta Femenina 2026 in San Cibrao das Viñas, beating Franziska Koch and Évita Muzic in a reduced uphill sprint after a tense and crash-hit afternoon in Galicia. The day also brought a major shift in the overall standings, with overnight leader Noemi Rüegg abandoning after a late crash and Koch moving into the red jersey.
The 109.8km stage from Lobios looked awkward rather than mountainous on paper, but it was shaped by constant undulations, two categorised climbs and a draggy uphill finish that suited puncheurs and strong finishers more than pure sprinters. Wet roads and nervous racing only added to that sense of instability.
Climbing pressure shaped the day early
There was no early move that truly stuck. The peloton stayed together into the first climb, the Alto do Cruceiro, where Maëva Squiban made the first real statement in the mountains competition by taking maximum points over the top. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Yuliia Biriukova and Kristen Faulkner followed her across the line, and the fight for the polka-dot jersey was immediately alive.
The second climb, the Alto da Portela, was steeper and more selective. Moolman-Pasio turned the tables there, edging Squiban for maximum points and leaving the two riders level in the QOM competition after the stage’s categorised climbing. By then the repeated pressure and slick roads had already begun to thin out the bunch, even if the race never fully exploded.
Through the middle part of the stage, EF Education-Oatly, FDJ SUEZ, SD Worx-ProTime and Team Visma | Lease a Bike all spent time near the front as they tried to keep control ahead of the intermediate sprint and the uphill finish. Gaia Realini and Kristen Faulkner were both among the riders briefly distanced during the nervous phase after the climbs, which underlined just how little margin there was on a day that never truly settled. Marianne Vos, however, was not part of the stage after her stage 1 crash forced her out of the race.
Koch strikes before the finale
FDJ SUEZ then made their move before the intermediate sprint, and Franziska Koch took full advantage. Led out by Eva van Agt, Koch won the sprint ahead of Letizia Paternoster and took bonus seconds that would later become crucial to the overall picture. It was a small detail at the time, but one that grew in significance once the final kilometres unravelled.
The defining moment of the stage came with around 12km to go. Noemi Rüegg, who had started the day in red after her stage 1 win, crashed out along with best young rider Eleonora Ciabocco. Both riders went into a culvert and required medical attention, and Rüegg’s race was over on the spot. It was a huge blow for EF Education-Oatly and immediately reopened the fight for the overall lead.
That crash split the race and turned the finale into a scramble. A small lead group briefly formed, with Juliette Berthet, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Koch among those involved, before the bunch reorganised again. With Vos no longer in the race, Team Visma | Lease a Bike had to reshape their options and still remained visible through the front part of the finale.
Bossuyt times it best as Kopecky is relegated
Into the final kilometres, the major teams lined up again. SD Worx-ProTime and Movistar were prominent as the road rose towards the line, but the decisive launch came from Shari Bossuyt. The Belgian opened her sprint at exactly the right moment and held off Koch, who came through strongly for second, while Évita Muzic took third. It was the biggest win of Bossuyt’s career and a deserved reward after AG Insurance-Soudal stayed calm through the chaos.
The order behind Bossuyt changed after the finish. Lotte Kopecky, who had initially sprinted in the top three, was later relegated, fined and shown a yellow card for irregular sprinting after changing line in the run to the finish. That promoted Muzic onto the podium and added another twist to a stage that was already one of the most dramatic of the race so far.
Koch did not get the stage win, but she still ended the day in the best possible position overall. With Rüegg out, her second place on the stage combined with the earlier intermediate sprint bonus was enough to move her into the red jersey. She also took over the points classification, while Squiban finished the day in the mountains jersey.
Red jersey changes hands after a chaotic finish
Bossuyt’s victory gave the stage its headline, but the day as a whole belonged to the kind of messy, nervous, selective racing that can reshape a Grand Tour in an instant. Rüegg’s crash changed the balance of the race, Kopecky’s relegation altered the podium, and Koch rode away from the stage with the overall lead. After only two days, La Vuelta Femenina already looks very different.
La Vuelta Femenina 2026 Stage 2 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
