British Cycling has announced the 55-strong women and men’s squad that will be representing Great Britain at the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland from 21st-29th September 2024. Of the female riders selected, stars including Anna Henderson and Dame Sarah Storey will compete across a combined racing schedule, aiming for more success in the form of the rainbow stripes, to cap off a successful Olympic and Paralympic year. Young British talent Cat Ferguson will also be on the hunt for a world title to add to a growing palmerès.
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Elite women
The elite women’s team will be headed up by Anna Henderson, who after taking the Olympic time-trial silver medal in Paris, will be looking to get on the top step after a fourth-place finish in 2023. Double Olympic track medallist at this year’s Games Elinor Barker will join her for the elite road race, alongside Lizzie Holden and Claire Steels.
Also competing in the road race, for the under-23 women’s title will be Tour de Normandie Feminin stage winner Josie Nelson, along with Alice Towers.
Junior women
National junior road race champion and 2023 world championship silver medallist Cat Ferguson will be aiming for the top step in Zurich, contesting both the road race and time-trial titles. Also competing in the two events will be the national junior time-trial champion Imogen Wolff.
Double stage winner of Omloop van Borsele juniors, Carys Lloyd will be a welcome addition to the road race squad, alongside world championship debutants Arabella Blackburn and Esther Wong.
PARA-CYCLING ROAD
Women
Fresh from winning her incredible 18th and 19th Paralympic titles, Sarah Storey will head up the stellar squad of riders heading to Zurich aiming to get their hands on a coveted rainbow jersey. Storey will be joined in the C4-5 events by Morgan Newberry, who has taken two time-trial bronze medals across this year’s world cup series.
The women’s C1-3 events will be well-represented for GB, with Paralympic time-trial silver medallists Fran Brown (C1) and Daphne Schrager (C2), who saw success in Paris on the track, both called-up. They will be joined by 2023’s C2 time-trial bronze medallist Amelia Cass and C1 time-trial bronze medallist Katie Toft.
Tandems
Four-time Paralympic medallists Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl will be aiming to upgrade their road race bronze from last year, having just returned as Paralympic champions in the women’s tandem road race.
Lora Fachie piloted by Corrine Hall, and Lizzi Jordan piloted by Danni Khan, had a successful Games, bringing back three bronze and one gold medal respectively. These talented riders will also be competing in the road race and time-trial events.
Performance Director for the Great Britian Cycling Team, Stephen Park CBE said:
“As the Great Britain Cycling Team, we are coming off the back of a fantastic Olympic and Paralympic summer and are proud to be able to bring 16 medallists, eight of them gold winners, to compete in Zurich so soon after their success.
“It’s fantastic to see riders in such good form after a busy season, and motivated to defend titles or contest rainbow jerseys for the first time. For our younger riders, this is a fantastic opportunity to compete at world level alongside teammates they can look up to and learn from and I’m confident we’ll see some great successes from our future stars.
“We saw last year at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, the benefits for riders, spectators and the sport as a whole that came from combining the Olympic and Paralympic track programmes, so to bring the road programmes together is something I am a huge advocate of.
“Day in, day out our programmes across all levels and all disciplines work collaboratively together, so to be able to continue this into competition and showcase all of our athletes on the same stage, is a truly fantastic opportunity!”
Great Britain Cycling Team women’s squad for the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships:
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Elite women
Elinor Barker
Anna Henderson
Lizzie Holden
Claire Steels
Under-23 women
Josie Nelson
Alice Towers
Junior women
Arabella Blackburn
Cat Ferguson
Carys Lloyd
Imogen Wolff
Esther Wong
PARA-CYCLING ROAD
Women
Fran Brown (C1)
Amelia Cass (C2)
Morgan Newberry (C5)
Daphne Schrager (C2)
Sarah Storey (C5)
Katie Toft (C1)
Tandems
Lora Fachie (piloted by Corrine Hall)
Lizzi Jordan (piloted by Danni Khan)
Sophie Unwin (piloted by Jenny Holl)
