'It's a bit scary' - WorldTour's youngest rider to pair schoolwork with racing

Carys Lloyd celebrated her 18th birthday on New Year’s Eve, and the following day, entered adulthood as a fully fledged professional cyclist.

The British teenager is one of four new signings who have joined WorldTour team Movistar for 2025. Her deal, announced last August, will see her stay with the Spanish squad for three years, and makes her the youngest talent at the top level of the sport, across both the men’s and women’s pelotons.

Lloyd is so young, in fact, that she is still completing her final year of A-levels, and will study for exams while competing against the world’s best riders this season.

“It’s a little bit nerve-racking,” the 18-year-old told Cycling Weekly. “I went to an early camp [last year] and all of the people there were going, ‘So you’re a pro next year, but you’re 17?’ It was something they were really trying to get their heads around, and I had to explain my birthday was literally right at the end of the year.

“I don’t think you can get younger than me, maybe by a couple of hours,” she added with a smile.

Lloyd first started racing bikes when she was six, and joined the British Cycling academy programme as an under-16. Last year, in her final season as a junior, she enjoyed impressive results on the road, winning two stages of the Omloop van Borsele and finishing in the top 10 at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix.

It was on the track, though, where she really excelled. In July, the then 17-year-old claimed two gold medals at the Junior European Track Championships, winning the Omnium and the Madison with partner Cat Ferguson. She then went on to earn three world titles at the Junior Track World Championships in China, winning gold in the Madison, individual pursuit and team pursuit, the latter in world record time, too.

“The quality of riders we had in our year in Great Britain was really, really strong,” Lloyd said. Her national squad ally Ferguson, the current junior road and time trial world champion, has also graduated out of the junior ranks and into the Movistar team. “I’m really lucky to have one of my closest teammates with me,” Lloyd said, “so we’re both the youngest there, rather than just me.”

By virtue of her late birthday, Lloyd is a school year younger than Ferguson, and still a sixth form pupil in Maidstone. “[Movistar] were really understanding about my schoolwork, because that was one of the things that I was worried about, especially going straight from junior to WorldTour, but also trying to do my A-levels at the same time,” she said. “It’s a bit scary, but they made it really easy for me to explain, and then they understood, and they weren’t bothered by it.”

After an initial batch of racing – her first event is scheduled to be the Challenge Mallorca at the end of the month – Lloyd will take a step back in June to sit her exams in maths, further maths and physics. “The team said, ‘Just get your exams done, and then we can talk about racing’,” she said. “They were just really refreshing.”

Lloyd has also been told that there is no pressure on her to get results in her first year as a pro. Instead, conversations with the team bosses have centred around her progression and ambitions for the future, including the races she’d one day like to ride. “I said Paris-Roubaix,” she smiled. “I’ve always looked at that race and thought I’d love to win it. It literally finishes in a velodrome, and is one of the most chaotic, cool races I’ve seen out there.”

The cobbles, however, are off the menu for the teenager this season. In the meantime, as she prepares for her professional debut, she’s making sure to keep her feet on the ground. “I’ve literally only just turned 18,” she said. “I looked up when Marianne Vos turned pro, and she turned pro when I was born. Technically, if you think about it in months, she’s been a pro longer than I’ve been alive. That’s quite scary, but it’s quite exciting at the same time.”