Cat Ferguson (GB) won the Junior women’s road race at the World Championships in Zurich in a three-up sprint with Paula Ostiz Taco (SP), who finished second, and Viktória Chladoňová (SK) who was third.
In winning the road race today, and the time trial on Tuesday, Ferguson achieves the famed “Double” – winning two World titles during a World Championship. Ferguson is signed to the Movistar WorldTour team for the next 3 years – 2025-2027 – and predicted to be one of the next rising stars in the women’s peloton.
The 73.5km race began in cooler and wetter weather than seen in the previous week, with some riders wearing rain vests and autumn booties. It was a fast start, with many riders in the 108 rider peloton realizing the need to get to the front to stay out of trouble.
The Netherlands made an early bid to control the action with Megan Arens, who, with the help of the British team of Cat Ferguson and Imogen Wolff, played a central role in pushing the pace and forming the lead group from which the winning breakaway would emerge.
After some back and forth between the peloton and those pushing the pace, a lead group of seven broke free and was established with 45km to go. Over the next 20km this group was whittled down to the winning break of three riders: Cat Ferguson, Paula Ostiz Taco, and Viktória Chladoňová
With 10km to go, the 3 leaders had established a lead of over 1 minute on their chasers and it became a matter of just making sure they maintained their pace and lead.
As the kilometers wound down, Chladoňová, the weakest sprinter, tried attacking, but was not able to shake her breakaway companions.
In the final kilometers, the leaders played cat-and-mouse and looked over their shoulders keeping an eye on one another. As the final 500 meters approached, Megan Arens (NL) appeared behind them on the long straight to the finish, and Ostiz Taco made the decision to start her sprint at around the 200 meter mark.
Ferguson was the first to react and easily overtook Ostiz Taco, leaving her and Chladoňová behind to fight it out for second place. At the line, Ferguson had 3 bike lengths on her rivals and and plenty of time to celebrate.
Notably, all three riders have already signed multi-year deals with WorldTour teams.
Paula Ostiz Taco, Cat Ferguson, Viktória Chladoňová (image: UCI Cycling)
Ferguson was thrilled to have won after having come so close in 2023. “I’m really overjoyed. I always wanted to become world champion on the road. Last year I came second and that really hurt. To win now is really unbelievable. I didn’t know exactly how big our lead was on the first chasers. I knew we had about a minute with five kilometers to go. We were just riding so slowly. I suddenly saw Megan (Arens) appear and then I thought: I should just sprint myself. I didn’t want to take any more risks and it worked out well. I knew I was the fastest. I had confidence in my sprint.”
Cat Ferguson achieves the “Double” by winning the road race and time trial (image: UCI Cycling)
Chladoňová (SK) almost saw her race end before it was even started when she fell early on. Luckily she was unharmed and was back in the peloton in no time. After getting in the winning break, she tried an attack towards the end on a climb but was closely marked by Ferguson and Ostiz-Taco. In the sprint she came within inches of taking the silver, but had to settle for bronze. “After the start, it was very hectic. The girls were pushing and about the fourth kilometer I fell. It was nothing serious. On the longer hill, I tried to decide the race, which was what I was advised. I gave my best in the sprint and I am very happy that I managed to win a bronze medal.”
Chladoňová tried to shake her rivals on the hills (image: UCI Cycling)
Megan Arens (NL) was disappointed that all her hard work only netted her a 4th place. She left behind the two other chasers she was with and came very close to the three leaders in the end. “It was a very tough race. I am quite disappointed that I had to let go at a certain point. Afterwards, I did everything I could to get back. When I rode away from the two other riders in the chase (group), I didn’t expect to catch up with the leaders. I was close, but it wasn’t enough. It’s only my first year as a junior. So I can be satisfied.”
Célia Gery (FR) was France’s best rider for a medal, but a training accident 10 days before in which she fractured a bone in her wrist dashed any hopes of Gery being fit enough. “I tried to believe it, I did my best, but I didn’t necessarily feel good, not like I have in recent weeks.”
Gery’s wrist injury hurt her performance (image: FFC)
How it happened
Wet roads greeted the riders at the start and Netherlands was the first team that went to the front to stay out of trouble. Soon after, within the first kilometers, a crash occurred at a roundabout taking down a few riders, but no one was hurt and all got back up.
The first break formed 15km into the race, with Arabella Blackburn (GB), Eleonora La Bella (IT), Silvia Milesia (IT), and Weronika Wasaty (PL). With 50km to go, their lead held at 25-30 seconds, but behind in the peloton the Netherlands, Canada, and Belgium were at the front chasing.
With 47km remaining, the lead group began to splinter and the peloton caught up. Megan Arens (NL) went to the front and began to push the pace up the climbs and a select group of about fifteen formed.
With 45km to go, a handful of riders crashed at the back of this lead group, one of them being favorite Imogen Wolff (GB), leaving a lead group of eight to push on with a 20 second advantage. In this lead group were the favorites Cat Ferguson (GB), Célia Gery (FR), and Viktória Chladoňová (SK).
With 40km to go, the lead group came back together.
Ferguson (GB) attacked on a descent with 36km to go and split the lead group again, leaving only 7 riders: Ferguson (GB), Célia Gery (FR), Megan Arens (NL), Viktória Chladoňová (SK), Paula Ostiz (SP), Giada Silo (IT), and Kamilla Aasebø (NO).
The lead group began to lose momentum with 30km to go as Imogen Wolff (GB) and Eirini Papadimitriou (GR) attacked from the peloton and attempted to bridge up.
With 30km left, Wolff and Papadimitriou made contact with the lead group, but a kilometer later the remainder of the peloton caught all of them and the race was back together.
With the race winding down, Megan Arens (NL) attacked with 24km to go and brought 6 riders with her and got a gap of 10 seconds on the peloton. It wasn’t until 21km to go that winning break formed when Viktória Chladoňová (SK) pushed the pace on a climb and Arens (NL), Gery (FR) and Wolff (GB) fell off the back, leaving four riders at the front: Giada Silo (IT), Viktória Chladoňová (SK), Paula Ostiz (SP), and Cat Ferguson (GB).
The four leaders pushed the pace and soon Giada Silo (IT) dropped off, leaving three riders in the lead with a 12″ gap on the peloton: Chladoňová (SK), Ostiz (SP), and Ferguson (GB), with a 12” gap.
The 3 leaders pushed hard, knowing that they were all guaranteed a medal, and the gap grew to 18” after the feed zone.
Behind, a chase group of five formed but couldn’t gain on the 3 leaders. With 16km to go, the 3 leaders had a gap of 30” on the 5 chasers, with the remainder of the peloton further back at 1:30”.
With 15km to go, the leaders extended their gap to 40” on their chasers and Paula Ostiz (SP) began missing her turns at the front and sat on her two breakaway companions. The 3 chasers behind were now only three, Gery (FR), Silo (IT), and Arens (GB), and were almost a minute back.
With less than 11 km to go, Chladoňová (SK) attacked on a short climb without any success. With the chasers more than a minute behind them and the peloton at 2:10″, the three leaders continued to ride together, but more conservatively.
At the 5km mark, the leaders still took their pulls but began to watch each other more closely. In the final 2km, the gap was 1:29” on the chasers and the leaders began to slow their pace.
With 1km to go, the 3 leaders began to play cat-and-mouse, with each rider jockeying for position and looking over their shoulder at the other two.
In the final 500 meters, Megan Arens (NL) from the chase group appeared on the TV screen on the long finish straightaway, not so far behind the 3 leaders.
Ostiz (SP) looked over her shoulder and saw Arens and opened up her sprint at 200 meters, but was countered by Ferguson (GB), who led it out and easily won by 3 bike lengths ahead of Ostiz (SP) and Chladoňová (SK).
RESULTS: 2024 World Championships Junior Women – Road Race