Road to 2016
Ferguson and Last's stunning Swiss Cup performance
British Cycling Olympic Academy Programme athletes Grant Ferguson and Annie Last confirmed they are in form for the world championships, both winning the final round of the pretigeous Swiss Cup.
Ferguson announced his return to the international mountain bike circuit with a career best result, moving from last on the grid to win the under-23 category and finish 12th overall, behind some of the worlds biggest names.
Still in his first year as an under-23, Ferguson started the race having completed a mid-season block of road training, missing some world cup competition but returning revitalised.
Moving from 75th as the last man on the grid, to fifth on the opening start loop, Ferguson was in the company of a world class lead group containing Olympic silver-medallist Nino Schurter, twice Olympic champion Julien Absalon and Olympic bronze medal winner Marco Fontana.
As the lead group containing Schurter, Lukas Flukiger, Thomas Litscher and Florian Vogel was established, Ferguson briefly chased with Absalon, before refraining and riding in the group which would contest the sprint for eighth to 14th place.
Annie Last not only repeated Ferguson's achievement, but won the senior race outright, taking the finishing sprint from Jolanda Neff and Sabine Spitz after a race-long battle which had also included Irina Kalentieva and Esther Suss.
In her first race since the Olympics, Last proved she was in the right condition to complete her ambition to win the world championships on September 7.
