Galicia hosted the opening stage of La Vuelta Femenina, the first Grand Tour of the season. Unlike usual, no early breakaway formed and the QOM points were decided through sprints: Squiban won the first one ahead of Moolman, while on the second climb the positions were reversed, meaning the QOM jersey had to be decided by the stage result.
The intermediate sprint, instead, was won by Koch ahead of Paternoster and Adegeest. With 8 km to go, on a downhill section, a crash near the front of the peloton, involving Vos and Paternoster, split the bunch into several groups, with Koch, Berthet, van Agt, Ferrand-Prévot and Vigilia briefly gaining an advantage. The situation came back together before the final ramp (1km at around 5%, with steeper ramps near the top), as Vos’ group rejoined inside the last 2 km.
Movistar and SD Worx set the pace on the uphill finish, but the sprint was launched with around 200m to go by Koch and Rüegg. The Swiss rider proved to have the strongest kick, overtaking the German champion, who was in turn passed by Lotte Kopecky. The Belgian tried to come back, but Rüegg responded and powered to the stage win by a clear margin. Second place went to Kopecky and third to Koch, while Niewiadoma and Squiban rounded out the top five, with the French which will wear the QOM jersey tomorrow. Noemi Rüegg will also take the red jersey into Stage 2 despite being on the same time as Franziska Koch, who had gained 6 bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint.