Hello, and thank you for tuning into this week's Wheel Talk Newsletter. Two Spanish stage races down and one to go! La Vuelta Femenina and Itzulia wrapped up with a slew of talking points, and Vuelta a Burgos promises to be equally as thrilling, especially because it will include the first WWT stage race ITT of the year (even if it is "too short," according to Georgie Howe).
First things first
We have another new mum in the peloton. Aude Biannic of Movistar is the latest rider to take time away from racing to give birth. She will return to WWT racing at Vuelta a Burgos this coming weekend, although she's already got one race day under her belt at Navarra Classic. The French rider gave birth to her son Noah on November 6th of last year. Her last race, before Wednesday's 1.Pro, was Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2024. It's very exciting to see another professional rider "doing it all," as they say.
A big congratulations to Aude from the whole Wheel Talk team! We love to see it!
Speaking of Navarra Classic!
In between the Spanish WWT stage races, there are two one-day races. After La Vuelta, there was the Navarra Classic, a 1.Pro, and in between Itzulia and Burgos is Durango-Durango, a 1.1. Both have pretty good turnouts because of their location, both in Spain and on the calendar, and are popular races for the riders.
Navarra is normally a selective race and has been won by a solo rider for the last three years. The last time the race was not won solo was in 2021 when Arlenis Sierra beat Ruth Edwards and Annemiek van Vleuten to the line, six seconds ahead of the chasing bunch.
This year's edition was very wet. The riders were treated to some horrendous weather.
As they traversed the climbs, the peloton split and came back together, split and came back together. There were a few breakaway attempts later in the race, but things always seemed to rejoin thanks to a motivated group of riders who missed moves. Lidl-Trek was particularly active, as was Liv AlUla Jayco. The American team missed a promising move within the final 15 km, for example, and were the ones to chase it down.
Brodie Chapman threw a final attempt at keeping the solo winning streak alive with 4 km to go, and in doing so further reduced the peloton. She was countered by Lidl-Trek's Amanda Spratt, but things finally settled into what looked to be the winning group within the final 2.5 km.
Knowing that Cat Ferguson was in the bunch and that she's displayed fantastic form this year, Movistar set the pace for the remaining kilometres. Ferguson was first into the final corner, and when she opened up her sprint, the race was done. She sprinted across the line ahead of Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto's Soraya Paladin and Edwards, riding for Human Powered Health.
The win is further proof of the talent of Ferguson, who is only 19 but signed a three-year contract with Movistar last year. One of the highlights of her 2024 season was winning both the junior road race and time trial at the World Championships, but she also took home eight other victories, not including multiple overall wins at junior-level stage races.
Ferguson has had a few crashes this year, most recently in the final turn of the second stage at La Vuelta, but has also already finished on the podium of Trofeo Alfredo Binda for Movistar. Navarra Classic is her first win this season for Movistar, but I doubt it will be her last.
You can find a full replay of the Navarra Classic on YouTube, motivation for your next long Zwift session.
Navarra Elite Classic top 10
- Cat Furgeson (Movistar) 3:39:43
- Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto) st
- Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) st
- Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco) st
- Giada Borghesi (Human Powered Health) st
- Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) st
- Ane Santesbteban (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) st
- India Grandier (Coop-Repsol) st
- Tiril Jørgensen (Coop-Repsol) st
- Ava Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) st
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