Cat Ferguson interview: The rising star of British cycling on cyclo-cross, Movistar and looking up to Lizzie Deignan

Welcome to the hectic, non-stop world of a 17-year-old who is one of the rising stars of the British cycling scene.

Already in just a few short years on two wheels, Ferguson has won multiple gold medals at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Slovakia, a silver medal in the junior road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Glasgow and sprinted to second spot in the women’s grand prix just down the A65 in Otley.

Prior to that, two wheels were two skis; her outdoor-sports-obsessed family from Skipton getting her into downhill racing to such an extent that she was a European silver medallist in her age group at that sport as well. Sometimes even Ferguson forgets that she is still a school girl.

“Unfortunately I still am,” laughs Ferguson, who is studying business, psychology and sports science.

“I manage to fit about 15 hours a week of training in after school. I’ve had to become good at time-management. When you’re doing sport, you’ve got to plan everything. You get good at compartmentalising things.

“From this summer, though, I’ll be going full-time.”

That is because Movistar, one of the big names of road cycling, have taken note of all of the above - the success across multiple formats, the discipline and the maturity beyond her years - to offer this young North Yorkshirewoman a chance to harness that obvious talent and transform it into a successful cycling career on the continent.

Ferguson will join Movistar as a stagiaire (effectively an apprentice) from August to December, after which her three-year contract as a novice professional will kick in.

“It’s very exciting what awaits,” says Ferguson, who is already looking at moving out to Spain next year.

“I’m excited about settling into my new team, learning my role, seeing what I’m good at. I don’t expect to be racing any big races, it’s a big team. But I’d just like to settle into the new team and learn my place.”

Ferguson’s rise has been rapid. She was still skiing for a club across the Pennines at the age of 12, and only took up cycling as a bi-product of the lack of snow to train on.

“I actually started cycling to help my skiing because obviously in the absence of serious snow you have to do other things to keep in shape,” she says. “And it just became that I preferred cycling. I joined a club, made loads of friends and I’ve been doing it seriously since lockdown.”

That is when she fell in love with cycling.

“It was when I learned to ride for myself,” she explains. “I went out loads on my own, learned the roads local to me which I hadn’t really done before. Before that I was always with my parents or my club on a group ride. I learned to ride for myself and really enjoyed that. It kept me motivated throughout lockdown to the point where I couldn’t wait to get back racing.”

Her ascent has been so sharp that six months prior to Covid-19 forcing society to shut down, when she accompanied her father Tim to watch the UCI Road World Championships in Harrogate, being a professional cyclist herself barely entered her mind.

“I remember watching Mads Pedersen sprint to the title in the men’s race, and I remember watching Tom Pidcock as well, but I never thought that could potentially be me,” she says.

“I was really inspired by them all but I certainly wasn’t thinking this could be, or would be me, in a few years’ time.”

But it was, because four years later when the world championships came to Glasgow, Ferguson was finishing second in the junior women’s road race.

“That was incredible,” she remembers “I’ve never had a home race so to experience that atmosphere was unbelievable.”

The breakthrough moment for Ferguson came a year earlier at the European Youth Olympics, when she won both the road race and time-trial. “To this day I think it’s one of the best competitions I’ve done, the environment of other sports, representing GB instead of just British Cycling, was incredible,” says Ferguson.

“The fact that people in the past like Zoe Backstedt have done well at that event and have gone on to forge careers in cycling, made me realise I could try it myself.”

Ferguson is not short of role models, with two almost on her doorstep.

Lizzie Deignan, the London 2012 Olympic silver medallist and a former world champion, has shown her what is possible as a woman in cycling, and Pidcock - the Olympic mountain bike champion and a Tour de France stage winner - what a versatile cyclist can achieve.

“Ever since I’ve been cycling I’ve looked up to Lizzie,” says Ferguson.

“Everything she has done for women’s cycling, like normalising pregnancy, going on maternity leave and still getting paid, is incredible and I’m so grateful to her. Without her, girls like me coming towards 18, I might not have been able to get a contract that pays me, so it’s all down to women like her. Teachers ask me ‘is cycling long-term, how long can you do it for?’ and I really think you can now, as Lizzie and Ellen van Dijk, Laura Kenny have proven. They’ve all come back, after multiple children in some cases, they’ve shown you really can go on for a long time.

“And Tom is so local to me, he does all of the same disciplines as me , he’s incredible in the amount of skills he has. Tom’s been a huge influence on me and I’d love to follow in his footsteps.”

Which brings us onto the immediate future, this weekend’s British Cyclo-Cross Championships in Falkirk and the world championships at the start of February.

“Last year’s nationals I was ill and wasn’t able to finish the course, so this year I’m hoping to come away with the jersey,” adds Ferguson, who hopes cyclo-cross, and indeed track cycling, remain part of her future. It should come as no surprise to hear she is part of British Cycling’s junior track programme and regularly attends training camps at the Manchester Velodrome.

“I never want to give up cyclo-cross,” says Ferguson, “but I know that in my near future that might not be as easy to stick to, it might be something I come back to. The same with track cycling, I can’t see myself doing it next season but I’d like to come back to it in the future.”

Long-term Ferguson hopes to ride in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and in a grand tour for women that matches the three-week examination the men endure. “It’s only fair,” she says. “People say grand tour and you immediately think 21 days of racing.”

Whatever the future holds, it is exceptionally bright for this young Yorkshirewoman. She just needs to finish school first.