"I'll have to prove I deserve the spot": Rising star of British cycling dreams of a Tour debut

Young Briton Cat Ferguson looks to the immediate future with equal parts ambition and caution. After three wins in her first full WorldTour season, the Movistar Team rider, who will turn 20 in 2026, has a possible debut at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on the horizon, the major target she has set for next year.

Ferguson’s 2025 season was a rollercoaster. Strong results were offset by tough moments linked to overtraining and fatigue, in a year where she discovered first-hand the demands of the pro ranks.

"I think the mix of my first altitude camps, not knowing my limits, having so much time to ride, and the excitement of being a first-year pro put me in a hole," she explained to Cycling Weekly. "I thought I could do it all and train a lot more just by fueling better, but that’s not how it works and I overdid it a bit."

Even so, the Briton managed to turn things around in the second half of the season with a great run at the home Tour of Britain. "I brought it back a bit towards the end of the season," she nodded. And then she wrapped up the year nicely with a win in her final competition in Andalucia: "That win showed me I can be more versatile than I thought, and that’s the rider I’d like to become."

After completing an early-winter camp with Movistar Team ahead of 2026, Ferguson has pinned her big goal on the most prestigious race on the women’s calendar. First, though, she must convince the team at the Giro d’Italia Women in June. "Apart from Marlen [Reusser] and Liane [Lippert], everyone is a reserve. I’ll do the Giro first and, depending on how I go there, it’ll be decided whether I go to the Tour or not."

The rider herself knows what is at stake. "The Giro is a big goal for me and I hope to improve enough to show I’m good enough for the Tour too, because if so, then it becomes my main objective for the season." She is clear about her personal brief: "I have to prove I’m one of the riders who deserves a spot all year and show the team I’m in good shape and can be an asset for them."

Before tackling the Grand Tours, Ferguson will focus on the spring Classics. In 2025 she opened her campaign with third at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, a result she did not expect. "I didn’t think I’d hang on at Binda, and finishing third was a surprise," she admitted. "I definitely left the spring thinking the Italian races, including Milano–Sanremo, suited me better than I’d thought before."

With a more solid winter behind her, she expects to arrive better prepared. "I hope this year, with a good winter of training in my legs, I can go into the Classics more ready than last year. They are definitely the toughest races in terms of positioning, and they were incredibly hard for me last year because they were the first of the season."

Even so, she sees room to grow. "I think my positioning improved through the year, so if I go to the Classics with better physical capacity and a bit of luck — because luck is a big part of the Classics — I hope I can do well. The Classics are super exciting and the true pinnacle of cycling."