IN THE year that Lizzie Deignan retires, Great Britain hand the torch to a new generation of women at next week’s UCI Road World Championships.

With a number of riders unavailable, British Cycling has not entered the women’s elite road race in Kigali, Rwanda, focusing instead on the under-23s with a team spearheaded by 19-year-old Cat Ferguson — last season’s junior world champion.

These worlds are the first with a separate women’s under-23s race — previously the rainbow jersey went to the highest-finishing eligible rider in the elite event.

Anna Henderson is the sole senior female rider in the squad, with eyes on the time trial, while Ferguson, Millie Couzens, Flora Perkins, Eilidh Shaw and Imogen Wolff will line up for the under-23s race.

“I think I’m incredibly lucky to be one of the first girls to have the separate race at the worlds,” said Ferguson, whose first season at World Tour level has included a stage win and second place overall at the Tour of Britain Women in June.

“I think previously it hasn’t quite been fair for the under-23 category to be in with the elites. It was more a case of who’s the strongest and can hold on to the elites the longest instead of an actual race with tactics and what cycling is about.”

Ferguson, a four-time junior world champion across road and track, is one of Britain’s brightest hopes for the future, having also picked up two silver medals at last year’s cyclo-cross world championships.