On Kelso’s cobbled square ahead of stage 3 of the 2025 Tour of Britain Women, Cat Ferguson tells Cycling Weekly that she’s desperate to win a stage on British soil. It's the only opportunity she'll get all year. The Movistar rider is keen to take advantage of the hilly route round the Scottish Borders, knowing that it’s probably her final chance to win a stage at this year's race.
What she didn’t expect was how the day would pan out. Heavy rain overnight had made the tarmac slippery, and the downpours intermittently came and went throughout the stage. What followed were several major crashes, including for race leader Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), who was distanced before the race’s final climb. The rain made an already difficult race even more attritional - only the strongest would flourish.
After an attack from Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto) with 24km to go, a final selection of six was made. Ferguson was there alongside multiple track world champion and GC rival Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez). With everyone on the limit, 19-year-old sprung something of a surprise to win her first ever WorldTour race with Wollaston third behind another Brit Josie Nelson (Picnin-PostNL), as the clouds produced one final downpour.
“It's incredible. It's really more than I could have hoped for,” a clearly frozen but delighted Ferguson told Cycling Weekly after the finish.
It was logically expected that Wollaston, with her track pedigree, would be able to get the better of her rivals on the cobbled sprint finish. However, Ferguson still had the presence of mind to use momentum to her advantage in the last 200 metres.
“To win it in the way that we did is not what I expected. I wasn't sure I was going to get it to be honest,” Ferguson said.
“I knew that Ally's definitely a better sprinter than me. Obviously, in the intermediate sprint she beat me, so I was thinking it was going to be difficult to beat her. But, if I came in second wheel and launched first on the cobbles, then hopefully I could get a bit more momentum on her, and it worked.”
“This race was a big goal of mine. I really wanted to come in and have good form, something I feel like I've been lacking a little bit to be honest. The whole season was missing that spark, and in this race, I think I've found it. I've been feeling really good,” Ferguson added.
The final climb was fought-out by the riders who managed to avoid the crashes. With 56km left, around 15 riders came down on a single left-hand bend, including stage two winner Mara Roldan (Picnic-PostNL) and Faulkner. Nine riders in total pulled out of the race during the stage due to crashes and other injuries and issues. Ferguson was well positioned throughout and was expertly guided by her Movistar team.
“Unfortunately there was a lot of misfortune, and Faulkner was caught behind crashes and mechanicals about three times, so I'm feeling for her. But I managed to stay at the front out of trouble and I'm used to riding in the rain, being from the UK, so I think that definitely helped,” she said.
Ferguson has moved into the lead of the race, taking a three-second advantage over Wollaston ahead of the final circuit-style stage in Glasgow where the bonus seconds will decide the race.
“I’m very nervous. I didn't imagine myself in this position, so now we have a lot of work to do and planning to do on how we approach tomorrow. I only have a few seconds lead, and I think tomorrow there will be four sprints to gain time, so it's going to be a difficult one. But with the team we have, we're really motivated, so we'll do the best we can.”
