GB's junior women contínue to impress

Two Nations Cup wins plus other successes show BC development system can still produce winners

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In the last few years Britain has produced a glut of women's junior cycling stars. Throughout 2021 and 2022 Zoe Bäckstedt won multiple junior road, track and cyclo-cross world titles. She was followed by Izzy Sharp, then the trio of Cat Ferguson, Imogen Wolff and Carys Lloyd, who starred at junior level and have already impressed in WorldTour races. All five are still 20 or under.

These are hard shoes to fill. However, British Cycling's development pathway continues to find and develop riders that are impressing on the world stage. So far in 2025 British junior women have won two Nations Cup races - the Clásica Jaén through Erin Boothman and a stage of the Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie femmes through Abigail Miller - with Boothman also winning Ghent-Wevelgem.

“I think it's been pretty solid, really,” PJ Barron, Olympic Development Squad Coach at BC, in charge of the junior women, tells Cycling Weekly. “It's been alright; it's been a really good learning opportunity for the girls. It's not been a massive success like last year, where we won everything that we touched, but it's a slightly less experienced group this year.