British super-talent Cat Ferguson set for pro debut this weekend

Promising 18-year-old Cat Ferguson will make her professional debut this Sunday at the one-day event La Choralis Fourmies.

The Brit will compete in the French race for Movistar, the team she joined as a stagiaire in August. Ferguson will ride for the Spanish WorldTour team full-time from 2024, having signed a three-year contract last September.

At 128.8km, La Choralis Fourmies will be the longest race of the teenager's young career. She will line up in France alongside teammates Lucía Ruiz, Laura Ruiz, Jelena Erić, Sheyla Gutiérrez, and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage winner Emma Norsgaard.

When Ferguson signed with Movistar last year, she described the move as a "dream come true".

"From our first meeting it felt like such a welcoming and family environment, with a great focus on developing my attributes at WorldTour level," she said.

"I look forward to learning from the best and most experienced riders in the world, and couldn't think of a better team to help me make the step up to elite cycling."

This season, Ferguson has ruled over the junior ranks, finishing on the podium in every race she started. She counts 10 wins among her road results, including the overall victories at three Nations Cup events and the British junior road race title.

Last month, the 18-year-old claimed her first rainbow jerseys at the Junior Track World Championships. She won the team pursuit with a world-record ride alongside Imogen Wolff, Erin Boothman and Carys Lloyd, who has also signed a three-year deal with Movistar. Ferguson then sealed the omnium title the following day.

The Brit's breakthrough came in 2023, when she won her first race as a junior, the Piccolo Trofeo Alfredo Binda, aged just 16, two years younger than other riders on the start list.

She finished runner-up in the junior road race at the World Championships last August, cementing her status as one of the most promising riders in the circuit. "If you told me at the start of the season I’d come second here, I'd be so happy," she said at the time.

No further details have been released about the rest of Ferguson's race calendar with Movistar this season.

La Choralis Fourmies, a UCI 1.1 ranked event, is held in the city of Fourmies in the northeast of France. Now two-time British national champion Pfeiffer Georgi took her first professional victory at the race in 2021.