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The Independent UK

Sport

Flo Clifford

Tom Pidcock, Oscar Onley, and Cat Ferguson lead GB medal charge at cycling World Championships

Cat Ferguson Tom Pidcock Oscar Onley GB World Championships Anna Henderson Vuelta (Event) Rwanda Fred Wright Gout Gout

Oscar Onley will be one of Britain's medal hopes in Rwanda - (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

British hopes at cycling’s Road World Championships this month will be led by recent third-place Vuelta finisher Tom Pidcock alongside rising stars Oscar Onley and Cat Ferguson.

Pidcock produced the best grand tour result of his career so far with a podium finish in Spain on Sunday, while Scottish 22-year-old Onley was fourth at this summer’s Tour de France in a breakout performance.

The world championships take place in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, from 21-28 September and have been dubbed the hardest in history due to the combination of high altitude and the amount of climbing involved. The men’s road race features 5,400m of elevation gain across a multitude of punchy climbs - the likes of which should suit both Pidcock and Onley.

The pair will be joined in the men’s elite category by Fred Wright, James Knox, Mark Donovan, defending Tour of Rwanda champion Joe Blackmore and debutants Bjorn Koerdt and Oliver Knight.

Britain are only sending one rider for the elite women’s category, with the expense and logistical challenges of the trip to Rwanda presenting problems for many national federations. It is the first time in over 30 years that no British women will compete in the elite road race. Anna Henderson, Paris Olympics silver medallist in the time-trial, will race in the same discipline in Kigali.

Ferguson, who swept the road race and time trial titles at the junior world championships last year, will lead a strong British squad in the under-23 category, which has been introduced for the first time.

The 19-year-old earned her first World Tour stage win - the highest level of elite cycling - at this year’s Tour of Britain, and has been riding in her first full season at the top level for Spanish team Movistar.

The teenager will be joined in the inaugural under-23 road race by Imogen Wolff, Flora Perkins and Eilidh Shaw, with British elite women’s road race champion and under-23 time trial national champion Millie Couzens racing on both the road and in the TT.

Anna Henderson, Olympic silver medallist last year, will be targeting more silverware in the time trial (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Ferguson is an accomplished climber and one of Britain’s biggest hopes for a medal, but she said: “It’s a new category, I haven’t raced any under-23 specific races and I think it will be really different to the elite racing. Of course I’d love to be in the top five, that will be a goal, but also I have to consider the plan of GB. I just want to see how the race goes and work well together as a team.”

The women’s under-23 race will also be a tough day in the saddle, with over 2,400m of elevation gain condensed into 119.3km.

“If I could choose the perfect race it would have less climbing!” Ferguson added. “I would prefer a race with hills but really punchy, one to two minute climbs. Rwanda does look like the climbs are short, they come thick and fast which should suit me, there’s some cobbles which I quite like as well.”

Zoe Backstedt - another former junior road race and time trial world champion - is another strong British contender for a medal, this time in the under-23 time trial.

20-year-old Backstedt, European under-23 time trial champion two years ago and current British national champion, has won her last four outings on the TT bike and said she feels “super confident” ahead of the race.

“I’d really love to be able to [upgrade the junior titles], but you never really know what’s going to happen on a course like this – also with the altitude to think about and the travel, so who knows how your body is going to react. I’d like to upgrade it to under-23, I’m going to give it 200% to go for that gold medal.”