Tom Pidcock, Oscar Onley and Anna Henderson to lead Great Britain team at World Championships but no elite women in road race

Great Britain will be led by Tom Pidcock, Oscar Onley and Anna Henderson at the Road World Championships in Rwanda, but will not enter a team in the elite women’s road race.

Team GB are fielding selections in almost every category, but will not be represented in either the elite women’s road race or the elite or U23 men’s time trials.

In the men’s road race, Pidcock and Onley come fresh from their respective third at the Vuelta a España and fourth at the Tour de France, and will be among the contenders on the tough, climb-filled course in Kigali.

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They’ll be joined by Mark Donovan, Oliver Knight, James Knox, Bjorn Koerdt, Fred Wright, and former Tour du Rwanda winner Joe Blackmore. None of those riders has opted to also ride the TT, with GB’s foremost time trialist, Josh Tarling, still recovering from a back injury.

Anna Henderson is the only elite woman Great Britain is sending to Rwanda, where she will be a medal favourite for Sunday’s time trial, after her silver medal at the Paris Olympics last summer.

With the likes of Pfeiffer Georgi out injured and a particularly hard course in Kigali, GB won’t be on the start line of the women’s road race, with several other nations also sending reduced selections to Rwanda.

However, GB are sending full teams in many of the other age categories, with serious medal hopes, particularly in the newly-separated U23 women’s category, where junior world champion Cat Ferguson will be a top favourite for the road race, whilst Zoe Bäckstedt could take home the rainbow jersey in the time trial.

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Ferguson will be supported by fellow WorldTour riders Imogen Wolff, Flora Perkins, and Millie Couzens, and UAE Team ADQ Development rider Eilidh Shaw.

Despite the UCI ruling this year that WorldTour and ProTeam riders could no longer race in the men’s U23 categories at Worlds, this doesn’t apply to the women’s races – run separately for the first time in 2025 – so many Women’s WorldTour riders will be in action.

In the junior road races and time trials, junior world TT champion Dylan Sage and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Juniors winner Harry Hudson lead the men’s selection, whilst the women will be led by Erin Boothman and Arabella Blackburn.

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Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies rider Callum Thornley will be the sole U23 men’s rider in the selection, riding the road race.

GB will also not compete in the mixed relay TTT, an event they took bronze in in 2019.

“The event provides a tough course that will ask a lot from our riders, but I am confident that, as ever, they are up to the task and will bring home some fantastic results,” said performance director Stephen Park.

Park pointed to busy racing schedules as a reason some categories had not been filled, but praised the opportunity for GB to send strong teams for the younger age categories, where they will hope to be amongst the medals.

“The event in Rwanda offers huge development opportunities for our younger riders to get a taste of racing at this level, while pushing our elite riders to their limits, and I have no doubt these championships will deliver a true spectacle that will showcase bike racing at its best.”

Great Britain selection for Worlds 2025Elite menJoe Blackmore Mark Donovan Oliver Knight James Knox Bjorn Koerdt Oscar Onley Tom Pidcock Fred Wright Elite womenAnna Henderson (TT only) U23 menCallum Thornley (road race only)U23 womenZoe Backstedt (TT only) Millie Couzens (TT and RR) Cat Ferguson Flora Perkins Eilidh Shaw Imogen Wolff Junior menMax Hinds (TT and RR) Harry Hudson Matthew Peace Dylan Sage (TT and RR) Junior womenArabella Blackburn  Erin Boothman (TT and RR) Gabriella McHugh  Abi Miller (TT and RR) Mabli Phillips 

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