Teenage super-talent Kat Ferguson showed that she is ready to make the step up from juniors to the Women's World Tour and then to elite racing by winning the Junior Time Trial World Championships in Zurich.

Ferguson has already raced as a stagiaire rider for Movistar and won a stage at the AG Tour de la Semois in Belgium; she just turned 18 in April, but she seems ready to make her career take off. [She averaged 47.362 km/h, 34 seconds ahead of Slovakia's Viktoria Kradnyova. Her British teammate Imogen Wolff is set to turn pro next year with Visma Lease-a-Bike.

Ferguson races track and cyclocross, but has consistently missed out on world titles. France's Julie Bego won the world title in Glasgow last year, while Ferguson took silver in the sprint. At this year's cyclocross world championships, two small mistakes allowed France's Celia Gerry to run away with the win by five seconds.

Ferguson will be looking for her second world title in the junior women's road race on Thursday.

“I've been second in six major events and never won the jersey. So every time I win a silver medal I get angry and frustrated and I train really hard for the next championships,” she told Cyclist in the spring.

She may never race in the junior time trial world champion jersey, but it is hers.

“All the frustration I've had makes this jersey even more special,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson's 2024 results, like Tadei Pogachar's, are filled with single digits. Her “worst” result was seventh place at the Cycling Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region in Germany while running in the elite women's peloton in Movistar.

The Spanish team has been looking for future talent and potential team leaders since Annemiek van Fruten retired last year. Ferguson agreed to a long-term contract before the 2024 season. After her studies and junior years are over, she can focus on her professional career at Movistar in 2025.

She has been riding Movistar's Canyon bikes since 2023, attending training camps and racing with the team in recent weeks.

“I'm very happy to already be in contact with the best teams,” Ferguson said.

“I've already been to a few pro races and met some of the other girls. They've all been very welcoming.” [Unlimited access to all coverage of the 2024 UCI Road World Championships, including breaking news and analysis from local journalists, including junior, under-23, and elite time trial and road races. Details.