Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance Soudal) blasted to the stage win in a wild finale of Vuelta Femenina\u2018s second stage.<\/p>\n
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The young Belgian launched from the middle of a reduced bunch kick after fast-moving rival Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx Protime) dropped her chain mid-sprint.<\/p>\n
Franziska Koch (FDJ Suez) finished second at the line and moved into the GC lead in what was a damaging day for the race.<\/p>\n
Both overnight race leader Noemi R\u00fcegg and veteran GOAT Marianne Vos abandoned the race Monday.<\/p>\n
This was a breakout win for Bossuyt.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old has long been a threat at the highest level but never won in the Women\u2019s WorldTour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not expecting to win today,\u201d she said at the finish Monday. \u201cI was actually really far back on the final climb. But I made up a lot of places on the downhill and came with a lot of speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think nobody was expecting that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Red jersey R\u00fcegg out after late crash<\/h2>\n
Monday\u2019s stage through the rolling, rain-slicked hills of Galicia was riddled with late drama.<\/p>\n
Race leader and stage 1 winner R\u00fcegg and best young rider Eleonora Ciabocco (Picnic-PostNL) came down after a touch of wheels in the middle of the peloton 12km from the line.<\/p>\n
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R\u00fcegg was able to get back on the bike but abandoned before the finish. Team EF Education Oatly team has not yet updated on the Swisswoman\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n
Ciabocco finished safely and seemed unhurt.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ca\u00edda de la l\u00edder: Noemi Ruegg, implicada en una dura ca\u00edda con Eleonora Ciabocco#LaVueltaFemenina pic.twitter.com\/E1jsvI1L7u<\/p>\n
\u2014 Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) May 4, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
SD Worx-Protime pulled hard to set up a sprint for Kopecky, but it all looked to be undone when rising sensation Paula Blasi (UAE ADQ) sparked a series of attacks on the grinding uphill 2km from the line.<\/p>\n
The race all came together again ahead of the final corner in San Cibrao das Vi\u00f1as, and Anna van der Breggen launched a ripping leadout for Kopecky.<\/p>\n
But the Belgian\u2019s gears had other plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started my sprint at the right moment, but my chain dropped,\u201d Kopecky said at the finish. \u201cIf you press both shift buttons at the same time, you go to your small chain ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust at the moment I was shifting to a bigger gear, I came in contact with Bossuyt,\u201d Kopecky said. \u201cSo because of that unexpected hit both shifters were touched and my chain dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Kopecky finished 15th at the line but was later relegated to the back of the group by race officials due to her collision with Bossuyt.<\/p>\n
Vos abandons after stage 1 crash<\/h2>\nKopecky and her teammates debrief what went wrong after the finish of stage 2 of Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a Feminina.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The stage started under a cloud monday.<\/p>\n
Visma-Lease a Bike posted Monday morning to reveal that Vos sprinted to 7th on stage 1 with a fractured collarbone.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old came down inside the final 10km of Sunday\u2019s stage, landed in a ditch, and chased back for a miracle top-10 finish. She\u2019s now gone home to recover.<\/p>\n
Another rolling stage suited to the tough sprinters is on tap for stage 3 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274464417.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated May 4, 2026 10:22AM Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance Soudal) blasted to the stage win in a wild finale of Vuelta Femenina\u2018s second stage. The young Belgian launched from the middle of a reduced bunch kick after fast-moving rival Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx Protime) dropped her chain mid-sprint. Franziska Koch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1917907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1917907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1917907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1917907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1917907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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