Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-Suez) dominated the first stage of the Women’s Tour Down Under 2026 with a huge explosive acceleration to sprint to victory on Lower Willunga Hill after catching Italian Alessia Vigilia (Uno-X Mobility) in the final 50 metres after she was out front for most of the day.
The stage built throughout the day with a fairly subdued start before Vigilia’s move. Then the time gap to the lone rider ended up being a bit too large and the panic in the chase behind showed as a few riders came down in crashes in the closing stages.
“It means the world. I didn’t feel great. I was actually really anxious. I really struggled in the peloton. The girls were amazing and they put me where I had to be.” Said a breathless Wollaston. “We didn’t want a repeat of last year so we put Amber (Kraak) on the front early. It’ll be silly not to (try and keep the jersey), I think I’ll go all in tomorrow.”
How it unfolded
The opening stage of the 2026 Women’s WorldTour season kicked off with a challenging stage around Willunga. That said, it is not the usual brutal summit finish but, rather, an uphill kick on Lower Willunga Hill, which, at around 400 metres long with a maximum gradient, it was sure that it wouldn’t be a straightforward sprint to the line.
Riders rolled out from the start finish line on the High Street in Willunga just after 11 am local time with peak temperature hitting 29°c. New for 2026, there is a full lineup of WorldTour teams with some, such as SD Worx-Protime, riding the Tour Down Under for the very first time due to the recent UCI rule changes requiring all WorldTour teams to attend every WorldTour race with teams only available to miss one race. This year’s race is the longest in the race’s history, with 394km of racing over the three-day-long race. This is also made harder with all three stages…
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