The 2025 spring Classics marketing campaign is a set of firsts for Cat Ferguson, just by advantage of it being the 18-year-old’s first season racing at elite stage.
Following a podium on the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and a top-20 at Milan-San Remo, she confirmed herself once more on Thursday by happening the assault within the Classic Brugge-De Panne, using solo for over 30km.
Ferguson, who stepped up straight from the junior ranks this 12 months, held onto a niche of simply 20 seconds throughout her transfer and was ultimately reeled in with 2.5km to go. In a post-race interview with Felix Mattis, she admitted to affected by a minor sickness however would not use that as an excuse.
“I used to be instructed it was solely round 15, 20 seconds, so I used to be attempting to not look again as a result of I knew how little that hole was,” Ferguson stated.
“It wanted to be extra for it to remain within the remaining. On a greater day, hopefully, I might make the hole greater, however I’m a little bit bit in poor health and have had just a few days off because the final race. No excuses, however I’ll strive once more subsequent time.”
Ferguson had deliberate to observe her positioning within the flat, sprinter-friendly race. Instead, she ended up within the breakaway. That transfer allowed her to observe different expertise, she stated.
“You study loads being out on the entrance, mentally – how one can push your self and to maintain going once I knew my hole was 20 seconds for the entire time. So I feel, for positive, I discovered probably the most I might as we speak.”
The wind did not blow the race aside in De Moeren because it typically does within the Classic Brugge-De Panne. However, using solo off the entrance meant that Ferguson might get in some impromptu time trialling and aerodynamics observe, along with that target the psychological aspect of racing.
“It’s so necessary, particularly in a flat race like this,” Ferguson stated of aerodynamics. “The wind’s not tremendous sturdy as we speak, however aero is the whole lot, particularly when it is simply you, solo in a breakaway. I had an enormous give attention to maintaining my head down as a lot as I might.”
In the tip, she was caught earlier than the ultimate run to the road, leaving Lorena Wiebes to assert one more victory as she beat Chiara Consonni within the closing dash. There’s extra to look ahead to for Ferguson within the coming weeks, nevertheless.
Despite her younger age, the reigning junior street race and time trial world champion Movistar have listed Ferguson for a full programme of top-level Classics. So far, she’s rewarded her crew with a sequence of optimistic rides, and debuts on the two cobbled Monuments are amongst her subsequent outings.
“Next, I’ve Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday,” she defined. “And then I do Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Brabant and Flèche, after which kind of a relaxation after the Belgian Classics.”