The curtain has risen on the 2026 season in Australia, and the team wasted no time in setting the pace. Between Ally Wollaston’s show of strength and the collective mastery displayed by the team, this Santos Tour Down Under was marked by a united team effort.
From the start in Willunga, the goal was clear: to put our sprinter-puncher in the best possible position. In a tense finale, Alessia Vigilia (Team Uno x Mobility) held out on her own for a long time, but the peloton caught up with her just 200 metres from the finish line. That’s when Ally Wollaston showed her power. With a perfect launch, the New Zealander won by an impressive margin, claiming the first leader’s jersey of the 2026 WorldTour.
The next day, between Magill and Paracombe (130.7km), the scenario repeated itself with even greater mastery. Despite a steep finish (0.9% average gradient over the last kilometre), the team perfectly filtered out the attacks. Amber Kraak also took part in the hostilities to disrupt the plans of the other teams. In a high-speed bunch sprint, Ally secured back-to-back wins, beating Noemi Rüegg (Team EF Education Oatly) and Josie Nelson (Team Picnic Post NL) to extend her overall lead to 14 seconds.
The queen stage, covering 126.5 km, featured the decisive challenge of this edition: the climb up Corkscrew Road (2.5 km at 8.3%). True to its reputation, this climb blew the peloton apart. Although the profile was too mountainous this time around, with a very selective profile on Corkscrew Road that ultimately favoured pure climbers, the team showed that it had several cards up its sleeve.
In a finale marked by the numerical superiority of UAE Team ADQ, the battle for the overall classification was fierce. In the end, it was Noemi Rüegg who pulled off the perfect move, winning the four-way sprint.
In her first appearance wearing the FDJ United-SUEZ jersey, our new recruit Lauren Dickson showed exemplary spirit in the most difficult stage. She finished in 11th place, just 12 seconds behind the day’s winner, and secured a promising 17th place in the final overall classification.