Cat Ferguson doubles up with sprint victory at Spanish one-day race
Yorkshire rider defends her title at the Navarra Classic, while Matthew Brennan opens Flèche du Sud in winning form
Britain's Cat Ferguson (Movistar) became the first double winner of the Navarra Women's Elite Classic on Thursday when she sprinted to victory at the head of a reduced bunch.
Based on Pamplona in northeast of Spain, the 1.Pro race covered a hilly 134km with nine classified muros – a southern European equivalent of the Tour of the Flanders, without the cobbles.
Ferguson led in an 18-rider sprint, with Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Fiona Mangan (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) placing second and third. Brits Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL) and Katie Scott (DAS Hutchinson) also finished in the top-10, sixth and eighth respectively.
It was a near-identical win to the one she took the year before, when the race was also reduced to a small, 16-rider group and Ferguson led in the sprint.
Her win at the Navarra Classic this year is the Yorkshire born rider's third of what has been a consistent season so far, following victory in her first race of the season at Mallorca's Trofeo Llucmajor, and then a stage of the Setmana Valenciana in February. It bodes well for her first participation in the Giro d'Italia Women later this month, which will see her using her fast finish to hunt out stage victories.
Ferguson wasn't the only Briton adding to their 2026 win tally yesterday; Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) was also victorious on stage one of the Flèche du Sud stage race in Luxembourg. He won the full bunch sprint in Stadtbredimus ahead of Roy Hoogendoorn (Metec Solarwatt p/b Mantle) and Tobias Risan Nakken (Drali-Repsol). It came at the end of a lumpy but short (94km) stage held over three laps around the town.
Just like Ferguson, this was Brennan's third victory of the year – he won a stage of the Tour Down Under in January and then Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in March. He picks up where countryman Thomas Mein left off in last year's Flèche du Sud; then riding for Mg.K Vis Costruzioni e Ambiente, Mein rode consistently throughout, winning the third stage and finishing second on GC.
Brennan will wear the leader's jersey on Friday's second stage of the five-day race. He is next due to put his talent on show at the French four-day Boucles de Mayenne race, starting 28 May, before going on to race the Tour de Suisse in June and then the Vuelta a España, his first Grand Tour, in August.
