We’ll look back on today’s opening stage of the 2026 Women's Santos Tour Down Under and recall Ally Wollaston’s blistering sprint into Willunga. How her FDJ United-Suez team rode the front so diligently all day – Amber Kraak in particular – and how Wollaston finished the job so comprehensively, putting bike lengths into her rivals.
But it very nearly didn’t happen. For a long while there it looked as if Wollaston and FDJ United-Suez’s best efforts were going to be thwarted, just like they were on the opening stage last year.
That day, on the run in to Aldinga Beach, Daniek Hengeveld slipped away from the peloton with around 50 km to go and somehow managed to stay away. This year it was Alessia Vigilia (UnoX Mobility) up the road, the lone member of the day’s breakaway, who rode clear with a touch under 100 km remaining in the stage.
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