'It feels like a completely different sport' - Cat Ferguson gears up for Paris-Roubaix after whirlwind 12 months

Almost exactly a year ago, Cat Ferguson won the East Cleveland Classic despite crashing at the foot of the race's penultimate climb. 363 days later, and the 18-year-old, now in her first full year as a professional, will line up for Paris-Roubaix Femmes with Movistar.

Both Ferguson's move to the Women's WorldTour squad and her star potential have been known about for a while now. She penned a deal with the Spanish team in 2023 after capping off her first year as a junior with a World Championships silver medal, but would wait until the following August to officially ride in their blue and white jersey.

However, for all her talent and now double junior rainbow jersey holder status, after her emphatic performance at last September's World Championships in Zurich, her first few months as a pro weren't meant to unfold as they have done. 

To be preparing for a first appearance at Paris-Roubaix Femmes was not part of the plan. 

"I knew at this time last year that I was going to go pro this year, but it was never a thought in my mind [that] in 12 months' time, I'll be doing a race like Roubaix," admits Ferguson in an exclusive chat with Cyclingnews. 

"The team lowered my expectations and told me that I wouldn't be doing any of the big Classics or Monuments, and then I ended up doing Flanders and San Remo now.

"I think we struggled a bit with the riders getting injured and ill, so it was a case that we needed numbers," the youngster reveals. Yet, the Yorkshire native was by no means just there to make up the numbers, as her results proved.

A third-place finish at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and top-20 results at both Sanremo Women and the Tour of Flanders would be more befitting of a seasoned Women's WorldTour rider than a first-year pro.

Ferguson is relishing the chance to test herself at the top races so soon, buoyed by confidence from her sports directors and coach. Imposter syndrome is seemingly not part of her vocabulary as she adds: "It's almost a case of just managing my excitement more than my nerves at the moment." 

Of course, the British rider is still somewhat surprised to be in this position already. Her podium in Lombardy last month, her first outing in 2025, came as a "big, big surprise" while the strong Monument results were made all the sweeter by the fact she was working in the service of others - something Ferguson savours equally as much right now.

"The Monuments, they were a bit less result-focused for me; the results sort of came after doing my job for the team. [It] is almost nicer as well, knowing that I can sacrifice myself for some moments for the team and still end up getting top-20 at Monuments, is really crazy too."

Having made the transition from junior to pro ranks, Ferguson is no longer the big fish in the small pond, and domestique duties are helping her to round out her skillset.

"It's helped my personal growth, and it's what I want this year to be about, learning how to do the support roles. It feels like a lot of pressure, and almost more pressure than when you go into a race for yourself sometimes, because if you don't do your job, well, it's not going to impact you; it's going to impact somebody else. And for me, that feels almost worse," she explains.

A free role at her first Roubaix

This weekend's Paris-Roubaix Femmes will see Ferguson be granted more freedom than in other Classics so far this year.

"It's a race that the team has said I can do well here, which again is really a surprise for me that I'm given a free role at a Monument. But it's with caution, a free role. There's no pressure or anything," she says.

Riding a race like Roubaix without pressure is a privilege that few are allowed, yet the Hell of the North has a way of creating tension at every turn. 

The Tour of Flanders acted as a baptism of fire for the 18-year-old into what racing a cobbled Monument can be like when it comes to the walls of crowds and build-up to the key points on the course, but Paris-Roubaix offers up a whole different cauldron of cobbled chaos.

Ferguson's approach to tackling the tension of impending pavé is one of pragmatism mixed with a touch of youthful and unfazed resolve.

"I'll definitely be speaking to [my teammates about it], but maybe not too much, because I know what the answer is going to be, and I don't really want to hear it until I'm in the moment experiencing it," she says.

"With Roubaix, because [the cobblestone sectors] just come so thick and fast, you almost just don't think about it, it just becomes natural that you just have to think about positioning.

"I almost found a race like the Tour of Flanders easier to deal with the key sections like the Koppenberg because there were just so many key sections that you couldn't allow yourself to be nervous for each one, otherwise you'd just waste so much energy."

Even if the Skipton-born rider does come unstuck on the pavé of Paris-Roubaix Femmes this weekend, though, she feels better placed to handle the challenge compared to a year ago.

"Last year, if I'd been stuck behind a crash, it would have probably destroyed my head because there weren't that many crashes at a junior level, just because there were fewer girls in the race, and we fought for a position much less," she says.

"I'm having to get used to [it] a lot more. A crash doesn't mean it's the end of your race, you just have to adapt to it."

Having watched Paris-Roubaix as a kid, it comes as little surprise that Ferguson marks it as a race she'd like to win, whether it be sooner or later, but as she settles into the life of a professional athlete, she is keen to make her mark across the World Tour calendar and ensure she doesn't rest on the laurels of her junior success.

Joining the World Tour 'like a different sport' for double junior world champion

Ferguson's exploits at the junior level are well documented, but she says that her junior career now feels like a previous chapter in her story.

"It's really nice to have them and to look back on them and know what I've achieved and can achieve, but this category and what I have going on from the future now definitely feels like a completely different sport."

In her new surroundings at Movistar, and having moved house to Andorra during the off-season, she is keen to crack on with her development on the bike, but can't ignore the fact that it's been a whirlwind period since she came away from Zurich with both junior women's road race and individual time trial rainbow jerseys.

"It's been a very full gas eight months, even though I have had lots of time to rest. There's been a lot of change in other areas of my life, like I've moved countries and had lots to deal with in terms of that," Ferguson explains.

Aside from missing her family dog, a rather mischievous Hungarian Vizsla called Tigger, now she's moved to the continent, the youngster - who also competes on the CX course and in the velodrome - is feeling in a good place, despite having signed a pro contract with Movistar earlier than most.

The move drew criticism from some in the sport, and Ferguson acknowledges why some may feel like she has made the jump too soon, but she never felt like she needed to prove the doubters wrong.

"For me, it was just less pressure that I had already signed a contract. I knew that the reason I was racing to get a good result was just because I'm a racer and I want to get the results because I put the work in," she explains. 

"[It was] something I could use as an advantage, especially when it came to like a GC race or something, when others might be looking for results each stage because they don't want it to look bad on their stats."

Aside from allowing her to avoid the pressure of racing for a pro contract last season, Ferguson admits that her decision to join Movistar was an "obvious" one and something that she is "1000% happy" with now.

Her race programme this season will also include stage races such as the Vuelta España Femenina and the Tour of Britain in a bid to develop her stage race capabilities further. 

But it's another race on British roads that causes a pique of excitement in Ferguson's voice when mentioned, namely the 2027 Tour de France Femmes, with the UK now confirmed to be hosting the Grand Départ.

It's yet to be confirmed where the women's Tour will visit on its first foray into the British Isles, however, the Yorkshire Post has hinted that Leeds could kickstart the action. News that would be music to the ears of a proud Yorkshire native, Ferguson.

"1000%, the Tour in 2027 is somewhere I want to be, and doing well [at]. In two more years, that's two more years of me getting stronger, so I'd 100% love to target something there if I got to go.

"Hopefully, it is actually on my home roads, I'd love for it to be in Yorkshire, and I really think they are the best roads, and that's where it should be, but that's just my opinion and I'm obviously a bit biased," she adds with a chuckle.

That spectacle is still more than two years down the line, with the youngster likely to face plenty of highs, lows, and lessons between now and then as she beds into the rollercoaster that is the pro peloton. Yet, despite being one of the newest faces in women's cycling, she's already becoming a marked card. 

Who's to say that by this time next year, she couldn't go from a wildcard pick to one of the key Paris-Roubaix contenders? A lot can change in the space of 12 months; just ask Ferguson.