Cat Ferguson won the 2026 Navarra Women’s Elite Classic, taking victory from a reduced sprint after 133.4km of hard racing around Pamplona. The Movistar rider was fastest at the finish ahead of Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Fiona Mangan, sealing back-to-back wins in the race and another major result in her 2026 season.
The finish came after a demanding day shaped by the constant walls of the Navarra route. This was never likely to be a straightforward sprint. The repeated climbs wore the field down, split the breakaway apart and left only a reduced front group to fight for victory in the streets of Pamplona.
Early break gives the race its first shape
The race was lively from the opening kilometres, with a six-rider breakaway forcing the bunch to organise early. Megan Arens, Océane Mahé, Inés Cantera, Ellie Parry, Laury Milette and Giorgia Serena moved clear and quickly built an advantage of more than three minutes.
Behind them, the peloton stayed under control rather than chasing in panic. Liv-AlUla-Jayco, Movistar and Lidl-Trek were among the teams most visible in the bunch, content to keep the move within range while waiting for the repeated walls to begin doing the real damage.
That was always the likely pattern in this race. The route around Pamplona is not built for one long move to survive easily. It is built to keep asking the same question over and over again until only the strongest and best-positioned riders remain.
The walls break up the race
As the race moved deeper into its decisive phase, the breakaway began to lose riders on the repeated climbs, especially on the tougher late section of the route. The Muro de Obanos and the Muro de Tirapu were the key points, and that was where the race finally started to fracture properly.
By then, only Nadia Gontova remained ahead from the original break. The Liv-AlUla-Jayco rider launched a strong move on the Muro de Tirapu and briefly looked as though she might carry it all the way to the finish. She built close to two minutes on the reduced peloton and forced the big teams behind into a proper response.
That response came most clearly from Movistar. The home team increased the pace before the second passage of Biurrun, and then Liane Lippert attacked from the peloton in an effort to bridge across to Gontova. It was one of the most important moments of the race, because it showed Movistar were not content to wait for the finish.
Lippert’s move put pressure on the gap, but she was eventually brought back with a little over 9km remaining. That left Gontova still dangling out front for a while longer, but without the kind of advantage she needed to resist what was coming behind.
Photo Credit: J.C. CordovillaFerguson finishes it off in Pamplona
The final kilometres remained aggressive. Even after Lippert was reeled in, there were more late attacks, including moves from Vini Fantini-BePink riders, but none could force a decisive split. Gontova herself held on until around 3km from the finish before finally being swept up.
That reset the race for a reduced bunch sprint, and from there Ferguson was the strongest rider in the finale. She stayed calm, held her position and then produced the cleanest acceleration in the final 300 metres to take the win.
Roseman-Gannon finished second after another strong showing from Liv-AlUla-Jayco, while Mangan completed the podium for Mayenne-Monbana-My Pie. Sandra Alonso, in 10th place, was the best Spanish finisher of the day.
A second straight Navarra win for Ferguson
This was a convincing victory from Ferguson because it demanded much more than speed alone. Navarra was selective throughout. The repeated walls, the constant pressure and the late attacks made it a race for riders who could absorb hard efforts and still finish with punch.
That suits Ferguson increasingly well. She handled the race with real maturity, never looked flustered as the shape of the finale kept changing, and still had the speed to finish it off when everything came back together. Winning here for a second straight year underlines how well this style of race fits her.
For Movistar, it was also a satisfying home success. The team helped shape the decisive phase of the race through its pressure on the climbs and Lippert’s attacking move, and Ferguson then completed the job in the sprint.
Navarra Women’s Elite Classic 2026 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
