Cat Ferguson doubled her season victory tally on Friday afternoon, dodging a crash in the closing kilometres to win stage two of the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana.
The Brit, who also won her opening race day at the Trofeo Llucmajor last month, led through the final corner in Vila-Real and sprinted out of the saddle to hold off Jayco-AlUla’s Letizia Paternoster.
Ferguson was previously riding behind Lidl-Trek's Elisa Balsamo when the Italian slid out on a corner inside 2km to go. Fortunately, she braked to avoid crashing too, and placed herself at the front with team-mate Liane Lippert, who marshalled her into the stage's finale.
Speaking after her victory, the 19-year-old said: “It’s not just a win for me today, but the whole team. It was really a team effort.”
Ferguson's Movistar missed out on the decisive split on Thursday’s opening stage, in which their GC leader, Lippert, placed 26th – over a minute down on the day's winner Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez).
“Compared to yesterday, it felt like a new team almost, so we can be super, super proud of ourselves,” Ferguson said.
Asked to describe her victory, she said: “[Lidl-]Trek were leading out for what felt like forever, obviously chasing the breakaway. We were there just behind them. We were happy with our position, and then we just wanted to move up before the final big turn at about 2km to go.
“Then obviously there was the crash of Balsamo, which is a shame. I hope she’s ok. From then, Liane did the whole thing on the front, so big respect for her.”
Ferguson took the lead as she turned onto the final 200m of the finishing straight, where the barriers had collapsed due to high winds earlier in the afternoon. The region of eastern Spain where the race is taking place is currently under a wind warning.
Despite this, Ferguson said the gusts had little impact on the race. “The roads were pretty covered. I think it was more the attritional aspect of the up and down climbing that tired the legs today.”
The four-day Setmana Valenciana continues on Saturday with a third stage to La Nucía, before finishing in Valencia on Sunday. Stage one’s winner, Vollering, continues to lead the GC.
“In the last corner, for me, unfortunately I was delayed by a crash,” the Dutchwoman said afterwards. “But for the rest, luckily I stayed up, so I’m grateful for that.”
