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How about this for a statistic: 15 road and five cyclocross races in 2024 – eight victories, five jerseys won.
Lowest result? Third, three times.
Has anyone in world cycling had a more consistent and impressive season than women’s cycling’s newest star, Cat Ferguson?
The British 18-year-old is a junior national time trial, road, and cyclocross champion, a recent Omnium and team pursuit world champion, and red hot favorite to win the upcoming junior world championships road race.
Movistar made headlines for snapping Ferguson up on a three-year deal last September when she was still just 17, and she made her debut in professional racing on September 8, spectacularly sprinting to second at La Choralis Fourmies Féminie against much older opposition.
“In all my years in women’s cycling, I have never, ever seen such an exciting and unique talent with so many capacities,” Sebastián Unzué, manager of Movistar’s women’s team, told Velo. “She can perform on pretty much any terrain and in any discipline, and do so extremely well.”
‘Cycling was the one for me’
Followers of the British cycling scene have been aware of Ferguson for a while, the latest product out of Yorkshire excelling in junior categories.
But it took a while for cycling to be her focus: she competed in slalom skiing and even finished third at the European championships as a 12-year-old. “I could have gone further with skiing, and my dad wasn’t sure it was the right thing for me to stop, but cycling was the one for me,” she told Velo.
Hailing from north Yorkshire, she was introduced to the same hilly home roads as Tom Pidcock and Lizzie Deignan from a young age.
“Lizzie is absolutely my idol,” she said. “I looked up to her ever since 2010 when I was only four. She is everything I look to be and for me she is the definition of the best possible athlete.”
It’s Ferguson’s dad, Tim, who has been the biggest influence on her, though.
He established the highly successful Shibden Apex RT junior team in 2023 to help progress his daughter and other talents like Imogen Wolff who has since signed for Visma-Lease a Bike.
“The environment I’ve had growing up has led to the success I’ve had,” Ferguson said.
Alongside sitting her exams in her final year of education – scoring three straight A grades – Ferguson has been competing around the world in 2024. In August, she claimed the Omnium world title in China despite crashing twice. “I think that’s the result I am most proud of because so many things went wrong and I had to fight back,” she said.
“I’m also proud and happy with the silvers I’ve had at the road and cross worlds in the past year. They weren’t the results I came before, but it made me so much more hungry for the next worlds, and made me realize how disappointed I was with second place, which is crazy to say.”
Only crazy if you’re as blessed as Ferguson.
“To me, second place is a lost race,” she added. “It means I didn’t achieve a goal. I won’t be thinking like that in the WorldTour, but if I race in my age category, I should be winning.”
‘Easy to get excited about her potential, but no pressure’
When Movistar first became aware of Ferguson, they knew they had to beat the stiff competition to secure her signature. “She is super all-round,” Unzué said.
In persuading her to join the Spanish giants, Unzué had to reassure Ferguson that her development would not be rushed.
“One of the many great things about Cat is that she’s really smart, humble, and has an extremely mature mindset. She is not wanting to be in the big races straight away,” Unzué continued.
“She’s conscious of taking things slowly, making logical developments, and not going too fast. We will let the road tell us where she is.
“She is obviously an amazing talent and it’s easy to get excited by her potential, but we want her career to be really long, so we won’t put pressure on her. She has a great environment around her, especially her father Tim.”
So close to a maiden UCI pro road victory – on day one of her promising career!
Cat Ferguson is definitely something else
@GettySport pic.twitter.com/T0onoh9JjI
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) September 8, 2024
At present, Ferguson races across road, track, and cyclocross – she has two silver medals from recent cyclocross worlds – but knows that she’ll have to make some sacrifices as her career progresses.
“In a perfect world I’d do all three, and I hope I can, but managing to do all the biggest races in all three disciplines is difficult, especially because I’d need to be in Manchester a lot [for the British national velodrome],” she said. “I think one year I’ll focus more on cross, then the next year more on track, with the road always there as priority number one.”
The new way: taking a long-term approach
Just like their male counterparts, there is a trend of women’s teams signing ever younger riders. “We’re seeing the exact same thing as what happened five years ago in men’s cycling,” Unzué commented. “This is the new reality of cycling.
“We saw Lidl-Trek betting hugely on young talent last year and I’m sure they’re happy and confident it will pay off. DSM, Canyon, EF with Zoe Bäckstedt, and Cofidis with Julie Bego are also great examples of signing young.
“Youngsters nowadays have better resources, more information and knowledge is available to them, and it means they’re much more ready and prepared to turn professional than they were 10 years ago.
“But we have to let everything process and develop in an organic and natural way instead of pressurizing them and giving them a lot of responsibility. We want them still competing at the highest level at 32, and not tired of the sport at 28.
“We have to look long-term, at five to 10 years down the line, not just next year.”
‘I won’t be happy with anything other than gold’
It’s often difficult to categorize the type of race a junior will specialize in at the professional level, but Ferguson has a good idea where she’ll have most success.
“Juniors can get away with being good at everything, but I think I’ll be a classics-type one-day rider,” she said.
“I’ve grown up on rolling roads and I’ve got a good sprint if it comes down to a reduced bunch finish. I’ve developed my one to five-minute power on the track, so races like Flanders seem to suit me.”
Her home terrain is a big part of her identity. “Yorkshire has formed me as a person and as a bike rider. I want to achieve big things, I always want to be the best and I pride myself on that,” she added.
“When you live here, you have really bad weather days, but you still have to go out and train for four hours after school, so you become quite disciplined. In our family we say: train hard, race easy, and I live by that. Every day I want to improve to be better than I was the day before.”
She told Velo before her successful bow with Movistar that her entrance into the professional ranks would be an “unknown thing” and that she had “lots of new things to learn,” adding: “There’s no pressure or nerves and I’m just super excited.”
A handful of one-day races with the Spanish team is on her calendar before beginning her cyclocross season in mid-December.
But before that is her ultimate season goal: the road world championships in Zurich where she’ll be looking to upgrade silver to gold in the junior road race on September 26.
“I was disappointed with second last year in Glasgow because it was a home race, a good course for me, but I messed up tactically,” she said.
“I’ve said all year that if I could win one race this season, it’d be the road worlds. 100 percent. It’s scary to say it out loud, but to be honest, I won’t be happy with anything other than gold.”
The form book suggests a podium is a guarantee.
