Tom Pidcock and Cat Ferguson to spearhead British Cycling team at UCI Road World Championships
Seven years after the UCI Road World Championships came to Yorkshire, two of the White Rose county’s best will bid to add more rainbow jerseys to their collection at this year’s renewal in Montreal later this month.
Tom Pidcock was a bronze medallist in the under-23 road race in Harrogate back in 2019, having won the junior time-trial in Bergen two years earlier.
In 2026 the multi-talented Leeds rider spearheads the British challenge in the men’s road race on Sunday, September 27, just a month after winning the mountain bike world championships for a second time.
On the road this year, Pidcock has finished ninth in the general classification at the Tour de France, won two one-day races and claimed a stage in the Tour of the Alps. But a rainbow jersey for winning the world road race title has so far eluded him.
Another Yorkshire rider who won in the junior ranks is Cat Ferguson.
Two years ago in Zurich, Ferguson did the golden double in the junior road race and time-trial.
In Montreal, the 20-year-old from Skipton leads the British team in the women’s under-23s race on Thursday, September 24.
After a promising start to 2026, including a win in the Navarra Women's Classic, the Movistar rider is working her way back from injury.
Cottingham’s Finlay Pickering will ride in support of Pidcock in the men’s race, alongside national road race champion Fred Wright, Mark Donovan, Oscar Onley and James Shaw.
Zoe Backstedt heads up the elite women's races, coming into the world championships as the reigning under-23 time-trial world champion and looking to make that next step at elite level.
Pfeiffer Georgi, Josie Nelson and Lauren Dickson have also been selected.
GB performance director Stephen Park CBE said: "This squad showcases the very best of British road racing, at a time when more British riders are making their mark on the international stage than ever before.”