Shibden Apex RT, Team of the Year at the British Conti Awards in 2024, will close at the end of the 2026 season, the junior team announced on Instagram on Saturday evening.
“After four years, Shibden Apex RT will be bringing its journey to a close at the end of the 2026 season,” the statement said. It gave no reason for the decision.
“Established with the aim of developing the next generation of elite riders, the team has achieved significant success on the national and international stage, including World and European Championship medals, national titles, Nations Cup victories and numerous opportunities to represent Great Britain across road and track cycling,” it continued.
“Beyond the results, we are proud to have provided young riders with the experience and opportunities to develop, compete internationally and progress to the highest levels of the sport.”
Managed by Tim Ferguson, the team began racing in 2023 with a junior women’s squad. “We set out to create the best junior girls’ team in the UK,” Ferguson told The British Continental after it won the award.
In its first season, Cat Ferguson, his daughter, won the junior Tour of Flanders and finished 2nd in the junior road race at the World Championships. In 2024 she beat a field of elite seniors to win the East Cleveland Classic, a round of the National Road Series, and took the junior national road race title, with Imogen Wolff winning the time trial. She ended that year as junior world champion in both the road race and the time trial. Four of the six riders who left that winter joined UCI teams: Cat Ferguson went to Movistar, Wolff to Visma | Lease a Bike, and Lucy Glover and Alice Colling to Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team.
The titles continued after they had gone. Arabella Blackburn, Evie Smith and Phoebe Taylor were part of the Great Britain squad that won the junior team pursuit at the European and World Championships in 2025, setting a junior world record, and Mabli Phillips won the junior national road race in the team’s colours in July.
Its former riders are now spread across the domestic scene. Blackburn rides for Handsling Alba, Smith and Isabel Mayes for O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes, and Ruby Oakes for FTP–Fulfil The Potential Racing, where she finished 3rd in this year’s National Road Series.
The announcement comes nine days after Paralloy RT said it would close and eight days after DAS–Hutchinson said it would end its UCI Continental team. Two Shibden Apex riders have already found new teams: Grace Upshall and Lily-Ann Scott have joined Duckworth Motor Group–On Form.
“We look back on the past four years with immense pride and are excited to see what the girls go on to achieve next,” the statement said.
For more team news, visit our women’s domestic team guide.
