Great Britain’s search for medals at the UCI Road World Championships next week will be led by Tom Pidcock and Oscar Onley in the men’s events, and Anna Henderson, Cat Ferguson and Zoe Bäckstedt in the women’s events.
The 25-rider British squad for the championships, scheduled for 21-28 September in Kigali, Rwanda, was announced on Tuesday, with entrants named across the junior, under-23 and elite events.
There will be no British riders in the elite women’s road race for the first time in more than 30 years, despite Great Britain qualifying a team. Instead, the squad selectors have decided to focus on the inaugural under-23 women’s road race, which will take place as a separate event for the first time.
Ferguson, a double gold medallist in Zurich last year, is expected to spearhead the under-23 team, riding alongside British national champion Millie Couzens, Flora Perkins, Eilidh Shaw and Imogen Wolff in the road race. Bäckstedt, a three-time junior world champion and current British time trial champion, will compete in the under-23 women’s time trial.
Ferguson won the women’s junior road race and time trial in Zurich in 2024.
(Image credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)
Speaking ahead of the championships, Ferguson said she would “love to be in the top five” of the under-23 road race. “That would probably be a goal, but also I have to consider the plan for GB, and whether we go for someone else,” the 19-year-old Movistar rider said. “I just want to see how the race goes and work well together as a team.”
“If I could choose and have the perfect race, it would have less climbing,” Ferguson added.
The road race routes in Kigali have been billed as some of the hardest ever plotted at the World Championships. The elite men’s event, for example, stretches 267.5km with 5,475m of elevation. The women’s under-23 race is 119.3km with 2,435m of climbing.
In the elite time trials, Olympic silver medallist Anna Henderson will be the only rider representing Great Britain in Rwanda. Josh Tarling placed fourth last year, but has not raced since injuring his back at the Giro d’Italia in May, and has not been selected.
Erin Boothman will lead British hopes in the junior events, competing in both the women’s road race and time trial, and hoping to follow in the gold-medal-winning footsteps of Ferguson and Bäckstedt before her. The 18-year-old is already a four-time junior world champion on the track, and has joined Liv AlUla Jayco’s development team for 2026.
Commenting on the squad, GB performance director Stephen Park said: “The road world championships are always a prestigious event in the cycling calendar and it’s fantastic to be part of this historic event, the first road world championships in Africa.
“The event provides a tough course that will ask a lot from our riders, but I am confident that, as ever, they are up to the task and will bring home some fantastic results.”
The full 25-rider British team for the 2025 UCI World Championships in Rwanda is below.
Great Britain squad for UCI Road World Championships 2025
Elite men
Joe Blackmore
Mark Donovan
Oliver Knight
James Knox
Bjorn Koerdt
Oscar Onley
Tom Pidcock
Fred Wright
Elite women
Anna Henderson (TT only)
U23 men
Callum Thornley
U23 women
Zoe Bäckstedt (TT only)
Millie Couzens (TT and RR)
Cat Ferguson
Flora Perkins
Eilidh Shaw
Imogen Wolff
Junior men
Max Hinds (RR and TT)
Harry Hudson
Matthew Peace
Dylan Sage (RR and TT)
Junior women
Arabella Blackburn
Erin Boothman (RR and TT)
Gabriella McHugh
Abi Miller (RR and TT)
Mabli Phillips
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