Heat training, pure instinct and learning to believe – Noemi Rüegg’s ‘ – Rouleur

Just over two weeks ago, Noemi Rüegg was at home in Switzerland riding indoors on a turbo, wearing layers of rain jackets to try and somewhat replicate training on a hot summer’s day. Outside of her window, the Swiss roads were snowy and temperatures were close to freezing. The EF Education-Oatly rider was doing her best to get a taste of what the conditions were going to be like at the Tour Down Under – a race which is known to suit those who have spent their off-seasons in the Southern Hemisphere, not riders who have been pedalling on Zwift in uncomfortable layers of clothing.⁠

Fast forward to January 18, and Rüegg is leading on the final ascent of Willunga Hill, riding away from pre-race favourites like Niamh Fisher-Black of Lidl-Trek and Neve Bradbury of Canyon//SRAM in 30 degree heat. The Swiss national champion and her teammates have executed an almost perfect race to this point: Kim Cadzow has been covering all the early breaks, while Rüegg has sat patiently behind, measuring her effort on the climb and waiting for her moment to go. It was with one kilometre of the stage remaining that moment came. The training rides in the snow, the heat training indoors; somehow, it all worked.⁠

“Our idea was that Noemi should wait for a sprint with three or four riders, it was not the plan she was able to go alone on the climb but she felt like she could do it in the end and gain as many seconds as possible. It was one of those days where you have a plan and everything goes as you hope,” EF Education-Oatly sports director Daniel Holm Foder grinned after the stage. “We tried to motivate her because in the first half of the climb she was in that survival mode and needed to control her effort in order to not overdo it or explode. Her attack in the end was pure instinct.”