Per week after a formidable third place within the Trofeo Binda, Cat Ferguson’s (Movistar) possibilities of one other high outcome had been scuppered when she crashed on the descent off of the enduring Poggio on the revived Milan-San Remo girls’s race.
The 18-year-old was a part of a lowered peloton of 21 riders on the foot of the ultimate climb however the accident meant that she misplaced contact with the 12 riders who emerged to contest the ultimate, the place she managed to complete in 18th place ultimately.
“By the time the assaults got here, I used to be out the again. It was positively approach, approach more durable than I anticipated. I attempted what I might to chase again on the descent, usually I’m an OK descender, however I took it a bit too far this time and had a crash. I bought again on rapidly, it’s solely grazes and stuff, so I’m all good,” Ferguson described the ultimate from her perspective.
“Then we rolled in with a bunch of fifteen of us to the end and I’m unsure the place I’ve come, however a extremely exhausting race, however I’m actually comfortable to be right here.”
As the ladies’s race returned to the calendar after 20 years, the entire peloton shared Ferguson’s lack of expertise with the course which can have contributed to plenty of crashes earlier than the ultimate.
“It’s my first time ever and in addition everybody else’s right here, which is admittedly unbelievable to say. I used to be trying to be right here, to be on the end. I hope all the ladies that crashed immediately are OK as a result of I do know there was a fairly large one earlier than the Cipressa,” she mentioned.
Learning and bettering race by race, Ferguson will proceed her first senior racing season on Flemish roads. “For me, it’s now Brugge-De Panne on the twenty seventh, then Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen,” Ferguson mentioned.
As Ferguson dominated the junior ranks in 2024, the Movistar Team took the bizarre step of giving her a stagiaire spot for a collection of races final autumn whereas she was nonetheless a junior rider.
She repaid this with a stage win within the Tour de la Semois and a victory in Binche-Chimay-Binche, proving her distinctive expertise.
After a winter cyclocross marketing campaign, Ferguson hit the bottom working with third place within the Trofeo Binda, and she or he is wanting ahead to her debut WorldTour season.
“So far, so good. I really like bike racing, I’m a fan of the game that I additionally compete in and I believe I shall be endlessly. It’s a extremely magical sport and I’m comfortable to be a part of the story immediately,” Ferguson mentioned.
