Cat Ferguson (born 27 April 2006) is a British racing cyclist, competing across road, cyclo-cross and track racing disciplines. She is a four-time World Junior Champion, holding four titles across two disciplines, all won in 2024. She is the 2024 Junior Track Cycling World Champion in both the team pursuit and the omnium, and the 2024 Junior Road Cycling World Champion in both the time trial and road race.[2][3] She was the first cyclist to win the World Junior road double since compatriot Zoe Bäckstedt.[4] Ferguson additionally won two silver medals at the 2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, in the women's junior race and the mixed team relay.[5][6]

Cat Ferguson
Personal information
Born (2006-04-27) 27 April 2006 (age 18)[1]
Team information
Current teamMovistar Team (Stagiaire)
Discipline
  • Road
  • Track
  • Cyclo-cross
RoleRider
Amateur teams
-2022Team Storey
2022–2024Shibden Hope Tech Apex
Professional team
2024Movistar Team (Stagiaire)
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Women's track cycling
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Luoyang Omnium
Gold medal – first place 2024 Luoyang Team pursuit
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Cottbus Madison
Silver medal – second place 2023 Anadia Omnium
Silver medal – second place 2024 Cottbus Team pursuit
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Anadia Team pursuit
Women's road bicycle racing
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Zurich Road race
Gold medal – first place 2024 Zurich Time trial
Silver medal – second place 2023 Glasgow Road race
European Youth Summer Olympic Festival
Gold medal – first place 2022 Banská Bystrica Girls' TT
Gold medal – first place 2022 Banská Bystrica Girls' road
Women's cyclo-cross
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2023 Hoogerheide Team relay
Silver medal – second place 2024 Tábor Team relay
Silver medal – second place 2024 Tábor Junior race
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2023 Pontchâteau Junior race
Silver medal – second place 2023 Pontchâteau Team relay

In 2024, she will ride for Movistar Team as a Stagiaire before joining them full-time in 2025.[7]

Early life

edit

From Skipton in Yorkshire,[8] she attended South Craven High School.[9] She started riding mountain bikes as a child with her father on local trails in Yorkshire. From there she graduated to attending the British National School of Racing.[10] She was also a competitive skier, specialising in slalom skiing as a youth.[11]

Career

edit

2021

edit

Ferguson won her first national title, becoming U16 National Female Road Circuit Champion, in Redbridge, London in July 2021.[12] Later that month, Ferguson won her first national track cycling championship, clinching the U16 Madison title alongside her partner Carys Lloyd, in Glasgow.[13]

2022

edit

In January 2022, Ferguson won the British U16s Cyclocross National Championships in Crawley, Sussex.[14]

In August 2022, she and Carys Lloyd retained their U16 National Madison title in Newport.[15]

Ferguson was a double gold medalist at the 2022 European Youth Olympics in Banská Bystrica in July 2022, winning both the road race and time trial.[16] That month, riding for Team Storey, she also won the British National U16 Road Racing title in Scarborough.[17]

2023

edit

In February 2023, she was a silver medalist in the junior race at the UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships in Tábor.[18] Ferguson won a silver medal in the team relay at the 2023 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hoogerheide in a team that included Anna Kay and Zoe Backstedt.[19]

Ferguson rode as a junior for the UK-based team Shibden Hope Tech Apex. She won on her Nations Cup road racing debut for Great Britain at the Piccolo Trofeo Alfredo Binda aged 16 years-old. She then won the junior edition 2023 Tour of Flanders for Women, and the junior British Time Trial title, in 2023. She also finished sixth at the junior Cyclo-cross World Championships.[20][21]

Ferguson won a silver medal in the junior women's road race at the 2023 UCI World Road Championships in Glasgow in August 2023.[22]

In November 2023, Ferguson won a silver medal in the Mixed Team Relay at the European Cyclo-cross Championships, alongside Cameron Mason, Anna Kay, Dan Barnes, Oscar Amey, and Imogen Wolff.[23] She later won a second silver medal at the championships, in the junior women's race.[24]

In late 2023 it was announced that Ferguson will join Movistar Team in 2024 as a stagiaire before becoming a full-time professional on a three-year contract.[7] She will continue to race for her British junior team Shibden Hopetech Apex during the 2023–24 winter but will also attend Movistar training camps while working with their performance team.[25]

2024

edit

In January 2024, Ferguson won the junior national title at the British Cyclo-cross Championships.[26] At the 2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships Ferguson won silver in both the Women's junior race and the team relay.[5][6]

She won two gold medals at the 2024 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Luoyang, China. As part of the British women's team pursuit team alongside Imogen Wolff, Carys Lloyd and Erin Boothman she set a new world record time of 4:20.811 to beat France in the final. She also won the women's omnium race at the Championships in August 2024.[2]

Following wins in the British junior road race[27] and in Bizkaikoloreak,[28] Ferguson made her first start as a Movistar rider in the 2024 La Choralis Fourmies Féminine, finishing second to Silvia Zanardi in a bunch sprint.[29]

In September 2024, she won the junior time trial and road race double at the 2024 UCI Road World Championships in Zurich.[3][30] Ferguson then clinched her first one day race win, taking victory in the Binche Chimay Binche pour Dames.[31]

Major results

edit

Cyclo-cross

edit
2022–2023
Junior National Trophy Series
1st Derby
1st Broughton Hall
1st Junior Andover
4th UEC European Junior Championships
2023–2024
1st   National Junior Championships
UCI World Championships
2nd   Team relay
2nd   Junior race
2nd   UEC European Junior Championships
2nd Overall UCI Junior World Cup
1st Troyes
1st Antwerpen
2nd Dublin
2nd Hoogerheide
3rd Benidorm
Junior Hope Supercross
1st Bradford
1st Houghton Le Spring
Junior National Trophy Series
1st Thornton in Craven

Road

edit
2023
National Junior Championships
1st   Time trial
3rd Road race
UCI World Junior Championships
2nd   Road race
10th Time trial
1st Piccolo Trofeo Alfredo Binda
1st Tour of Flanders Juniors
3rd Overall EPZ Omloop van Borsele Juniors
1st   Points classification
1st   Young rider classification
2nd Overall Bizkaikoloreak
1st   Young rider classification
1st Stage 2
5th Overall Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie
1st   Young rider classification
1st Stage 2
2024
UCI World Junior Championships
1st   Road race
1st   Time trial
National Junior Championships
1st   Road race
2nd Time trial
1st   Overall Bizkaikoloreak
1st   Mountains classification
1st Stages 1 & 2
1st   Overall EPZ Omloop van Borsele Juniors
1st   Points classification
1st Stage 1 (ITT)
1st   Overall Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie
1st Stages 1 & 2
1st Binche–Chimay–Binche
1st East Cleveland Classic
1st Stage 1 Tour de la Semois
2nd Lincoln GP
2nd La Choralis Fourmies
2nd Piccolo Trofeo Alfredo Binda
2nd Tour of Flanders Juniors
3rd Otley GP
7th GP Stuttgart & Region

Track

edit
2023
UEC European Junior Championships
2nd   Omnium
3rd   Team pursuit
2024
UCI World Junior Championships
1st   Team pursuit
1st   Omnium
1st   Madison, UEC European Junior Championships (with Carys Lloyd)
3rd Scratch, National Championships

References

edit
  1. ^ "Cat Ferguson". First Cycling. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Daily updates: 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships". British Cycling. 21 August 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b Ostanek, Dani (26 September 2024). "UCI Road World Championships: Cat Ferguson captures second gold in junior women's road race". CyclingNews. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  4. ^ Becket, Adam (26 September 2024). "'It was my race to lose' - 'Pure relief' as Cat Ferguson wins women's junior road race at World Championships to complete double". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b Farrand, Stephen (3 February 2024). "Célia Gery beats Cat Ferguson to win junior women's cyclocross world title". CyclingNews. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b Moultrie, James (2 February 2024). "Cyclocross Worlds: France edge out Great Britain for mixed team relay gold". CyclingNews. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b Mitchell, Mathew (12 September 2023). "Movistar Team signs junior Cat Ferguson as 2024 stagiaire and the following 3 years". Pro Cycling UK. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Skipton cyclist Cat Ferguson inspires Team GB in Glasgow". Craven Herald. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  9. ^ "South Craven schoolgirl crowned National Time Trial champion". Craven Herald. 13 July 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  10. ^ Jary, Rachel (29 November 2023). "'I'M GRATEFUL TO WOMEN BEFORE ME WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE': CAT FERGUSON ON SIGNING WITH MOVISTAR AS A 17-YEAR-OLD". Rouleur.cc. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  11. ^ Davidson, Tom (1 October 2023). "'They aren't just good, they're brilliant' – Meet Great Britain's junior super-talents". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  12. ^ "YOUTH NATIONAL CIRCUIT CHAMPIONS CROWNED ON THE 'HOGGENBERG' IN REDBRIDGE". British Cycling. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  13. ^ "NEW UNOFFICIAL WORLD RECORD AND MORE TITLES AWARDED ON DAY FOUR OF THE 2021 NATIONAL YOUTH AND JUNIOR TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS". British Cycling. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  14. ^ Mason, Viv (12 January 2022). "South Craven's Cat Ferguson is proving her cyclocross prowess yet again". Craven Herald. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  15. ^ "NATIONAL YOUTH AND JUNIOR TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY-BY-DAY UPDATES". British Cycling. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  16. ^ Lloyd, Owen (26 July 2022). "Ferguson and Goszczurny storm to cycling golds at Banská Bystrica EYOF in poor weather". Inside The Games. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  17. ^ "FERGUSON AND ROWE CROWNED YOUTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONS WITH SENSATIONAL WINS IN SCARBOROUGH". British Cycling. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  18. ^ "WC in cyclocross: Chladoňová won bronze among junior women". cycling.info.sk. 3 February 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  19. ^ "2023 Hoogerheide UCI Cyclocross World Championships Results: Team Relay". cxmagazine. 3 February 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  20. ^ Beckett, Adam (19 September 2023). "British junior joins Movistar to become one of the youngest WorldTour pros ever". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Cat Ferguson:Beginners pluck". The British Continental. 16 March 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  22. ^ Thewlis, Tom (5 August 2023). "Cat Ferguson forced to settle for silver in junior women's road race at Glasgow World Championships". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  23. ^ "GREAT BRITAIN CLAIM TEAM RELAY SILVER AFTER EPIC CHASE AT THE 2023 UEC CYCLO-CROSS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS". British Cycling. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  24. ^ "TRIPLE MEDAL SUCCESS FOR GREAT BRITAIN ON FINAL DAY OF THE UEC 2023 CYCLO-CROSS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS". British Cycling. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  25. ^ Farrand, Stephen (19 September 2023). "Teenager Cat Ferguson to turn pro with Movistar women's team". Cycling News.
  26. ^ Thewlis, Tom (15 February 2024). "Cat Ferguson wins by nearly four minutes at British Cyclo-cross Championships". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  27. ^ "2024 National Championships Great Britain WJ - Road Race". Pro Cycling Stats. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  28. ^ "2024 Bizkaikoloreak". Pro Cycling Stats. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  29. ^ "2024 La Choralis Fourmies Féminine". Pro Cycling UK. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  30. ^ Fotheringham, Alasdair (24 September 2024). "UCI World Championships: British rising star Cat Ferguson wins junior women's time trial". Cycling News. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  31. ^ "2024 Binche Chimay Binche pour Dames". Cycling News. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
edit