Cyclist
5 first year pro cyclists to follow in 2025
So here we are. 2025. Eyes blearily adjusting to the dawn of a new season with the calling of Australian races on the horizon.
While this is a familiar feeling for cycling fans at this point, for some it’s time to queue up for their first go round on the rollercoaster ride that can be the WorldTour.
Here Cyclist looks at five of the most exciting prospects to watch in their first year as professionals this coming season.
1. Cat Ferguson (Movistar)
Cat Ferguson joined Movistar in August last year as a stagiaire, meaning 2025 will be her first full season with the squad and the 18-year-old Brit has won national titles galore in the junior ranks across disciplines of cyclocross, road and track.
On the international stage, she has two European Youth Olympics gold medals in addition to a silver cyclocross European Championship medal and a World Championship silver medal in the junior women’s road race. She also boasts victories at Trofeo Binda Juniors and the Ronde van Vlaanderen Juniors. Her trophy cabinet must need reinforcing by now.
On the road last season she raced to a stellar double gold at the World Championships in Zurich, victorious in both the junior time-trial and the road race just three months after winning the junior national road title too.
Immediately making an impact on the top level, Ferguson won her first pro one-day race in Binche-Chimay-Binche, coinciding with only her fourth time out in the Movistar blue. I’d say the sky is the limit, but she appears limitless.
2. Niklas Behrens (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Despite being on the Lidl-Trek Development Team, Niklas Behrens joined Visma-Lease a Bike on a three-year deal and is looking to discover his ‘true specialty’. The German rider stormed to a rainbow jersey in Zurich with his victory in the U23 road race adding to his national title in the discipline too.
Behrens just missed the podium at the U23 Gent-Wevelgem but scored a couple of top-ten finishes in stages at the Tour de l’Avenir last season. He will be hard to miss in 2025, cutting a tall figure in the peloton at 6ft 5in.
3. Paul Seixas
Frenchman Paul Seixas steps up to the WorldTour this year with Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale having been on their U19 team for the last 12 months. But in that time the 18-year-old was a force to watch, winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège Juniors, a national title against the clock and the Tour de Pays de Vaud Juniors.
From there he was either winning or placing second in stage races for the rest of the season. Seixas ended 2024 with a World Championship title in the junior individual time-trial.
He is now the youngest rider at the WorldTour level and is looking to develop as an all-rounder.
4. Imogen Wolff (Visma-Lease a Bike)
British ITT Champion Imogen Wolff led home a 1-2 for Great Britain last year at Piccolo Trofeo Binda, finishing just ahead of Ferguson after a 33km solo attack. A bronze medal awaited her at the World Championships in the junior time-trial.
The 18-year-old also won the Peaks 2 Day before spending time as a stagiaire for Visma-Lease a Bike towards the end of 2024. She made her debut at La Choralis Fourmies where she finished 13th.
She also rides cyclocross like many others on this list, recently racing to a podium finish at Loenhout and a kicking off the new year with a top-ten finish in Baal. The former junior cyclocross national champion will look to develop further here too – especially under the guidance of teammates Marianne Vos and Fem van Empel.
5. Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
Pablo Torres had a phenomenal second half to 2024. The 19-year-old Spaniard rode to second place overall at the Giro Next Gen after two top ten stage finishes that included a close second place on Stage 6.
It was at the Tour de l’Avenir that he truly shone. He climbed into the lead of the race with victory on Stage 4 and won the final day on Stage 7, a performance that also set a new climbing record on the Colle delle Finestre. It beat Chris Froome’s time from Stage 19 of the 2018 Giro d’Italia by over three minutes. He finished second overall at the race to Great Britain’s Joe Blackmore by just 12 seconds.
His efforts earned him a WorldTour contract with UAE Team Emirates XRG having spent the year with their development team. It runs through to 2030, and aside from Wout van Aert’s lifetime inking with Visma-Lease a Bike, it’s currently the longest WorldTour contract – one year more than his teammate Tadej Pogačar.
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