Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. That's how simple it was for Pfeiffer Georgi on Sunday, as the dsm-firmenich PostNL rider "copied and pasted" her ride at the 2023 British national road race to aplomb at the 2024 edition.

The 23-year-old became the first rider since Nicole Cooke to win British National Road Race titles back-to-back, and a three-time winner in the process, demonstrating her dominance in the race in recent years.

Georgi attacked up Saltburn Bank on the final lap of the 130km race, and went clear, winning from Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek).

She was set up by her teammate, Josie Nelson, and had such a gap by the finish line that she was able to sit up and celebrate. North Yorkshire clearly suits her.

Sophie Wright (Fenix-Deceuninck) tried something late on, with a fierce attack, but punctured as her attempt came to nothing. Her teammate Flora Perkins won the under-23 title, finishing fourth overall.

"I actually just kind of copied and pasted my tactics from last year," Georgi said post-stage. "I told Josie to take the corners first and sprint as fast as she could, and then I came on the inside and sprinted from the bottom. Near the top of the climb, I heard someone say 'you’ve got it,' so I took a quick peek, and I was able to celebrate in the last 100m."

It was her first victory of 2024, although this year did see her take a marquee result at Paris-Roubaix, where she finished third. Another year in the red, white and blue national champion's bands awaits. 

"I can’t believe it," Georgi said. "I doubted a lot today. With a lap to go I wasn’t sure how I was feeling but my team supported me fully. We had a plan and we committed and luckily, it paid off. I felt a bit of pressure from myself, I really wanted to win and pay the girls back."

Saltburn Bank and its fearsome incline was always set to crown the winner, but there were aggressive riders from Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM) among others. Wright, in particular, shook up the race with a late attack which saw her lead by 30 seconds inside the final 10km, but a puncture snuffed out her lead. 

Results

British National Road Championships 2024, road race: Saltburn-by-the-Sea > Saltburn-by-the-Sea (130km)

1. Pfeiffer Georgi, dsm-firmenich PostNL
2. Anna Henderson, Visma-Lease a Bike
3. Lizzie Deignan, Lidl-Trek
4. Flora Perkins, Fenix-Deceuninck
5. Millie Couzens, Fenix-Deceuninck
6. Alice Towers, Canyon-SRAM
7. Josie Nelson, dsm-firmenich PostNL
8. Claire Steels, Movistar
9. Elinor Barker, Uno-X Mobility

Lotte Kopecky outsprinted Letizia Paternoster (Liv ALUla Jayco) to win stage one of the Tour of Britain Women in Llandudno in North Wales. 

Paternoster punched the air in celebration, believing she had taken the victory on the seafront ahead of the reigning World Champion, but a photo finish later declared Kopecky the winner. 

A nine rider strong breakaway - including Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson of the Great Britain Cycling team - formed at the top of the day’s final climb, Ty’n y Llidiart, and soon built up an advantage of more than two minutes which meant they would contest the finish. 

Henderson led the break into the final kilometre, but Kopecky opened the sprint for the line after Henderson had peeled off. Paternoster was straight onto the World Champion’s back wheel and lunged for the line alongside Kopecky. The Belgian ended up winning by a matter of millimetres ahead of Paternoster. 

The current British national champion, Pfeiffer Georgi, took third place behind them. Deignan came in fourth. 

Speaking after eventually being declared the winner, Kopecky said that she felt it was impossible to call between her and Paternoster at first. 

"I made a couple of mistakes in the sprint myself," Kopecky said. "But then when it came to the line it was like ok I can only do one more thing and just make the best jump I can. Once we crossed the finish line, Letizia raised her hands but I was thinking ‘I'm not sure I won, but then I’m also not sure you won.'" 

"We had a really good group in the front," Kopecky added. "I was also happy to have [Christine] Majerus with me in the first group. But you know in the last five kilometres when you go to the finish, for sure when there’s two riders from another team they start playing games but yeah, it was a nice final for me I think."

"It was a nice stage actually, pretty hilly but never flat, also with a lot of headwind. So it made it pretty slow at times because of the wind, but in the end I’m happy we could get in the break on the last climb, it was a nice race."  

Deignan later said that the headwinds had impacted the race late on. 

"I was happy with my form today," she said. "It was a strange race, almost nothing and everything. We would have liked moments of attack in the final finish, but with the headwinds stretch and the launchpads, we just had to do what we could. 

"I think moving forward it will be a really open race, so hopefully a big breakaway could go, and we can use some of our other ideas and take other opportunities."

How it happened

The opening stage of the inaugural edition of the race was a largely hilly affair, but with a flat run into the finish in the coastal town of Llandudno. 

A handful of small breakaway groups briefly had their moment in the spotlight at the head of the action, but as the race reached crunch time it all came back together. 

With 36 kilometres to go, the race really started to open up on the final categorised climb of the day, Ty’n y Llidart. A group of nine riders, containing the likes of Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson (Great Britain Cycling team), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm firmenich Post NL) and Letizia Paternoster (Liv ALUla Jayco), broke clear as they fought for the Queen of the Mountains points on offer. 

The nine riders rapidly built up a two minute time gap as the pace ramped up on the descent back down towards the flatter terrain. Cofidis, who had been very active in the first half of the day’s racing, attempted to form some cohesion in the chasing peloton, but it would be to no avail due to the strength of the nine rider group that had formed. 

Paternoster swept up the points on offer at the intermediate sprint at Dolgarrog. 

With three kilometres to go the likes of Kopecky began to tighten her shoes as the group started to prepare for a sprint finish to the line alongside the seafront. Henderson launched a move solo looking to disrupt any attempt from SD Worx to control the finish. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv ALUla Jayco) pulled Henderson back, but it had evidently unsettled the nine riders as the tension began to rise. 

As the riders tore under the kilometre to go marker, Majerus started to lead out Kopecky but the two Jayco riders were straight onto the move. Kopecky launched her sprint with Paternoster locked into her wheel and the duo appeared to cross the line together. 

Paternoster punched the air thinking she had won, but Kopecky would later be declared the winner after a photo finish showed that the Belgian had edged the sprint by a handful of millimetres. 

Results

Tour of Britain Women 2024, stage one: Welshpool > Llandudno (142km)

1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 04:04:18
2. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv ALUla Jayco,
3. Pfeiffer Gerogi (Gbr) dsm-firmenich PostNL,
4. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) great Britain Cycling team,
5. Eline Jansen (Ned) Volker Wessels,
6. Anna Henderson (Gbr) Great Britain Cycling team,
7. Victorie Guilman (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93,
8. Christine Majerus (Ned) SD Worx-Protime,
9. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv ALUla Jayco, all at same time
10. Lucy Lee (Gbr) DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK +3:49

General classification after stage one 

1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 04:04:06
2. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv ALUla Jayco, +3s
3. Pfeiffer Gerogi (Gbr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +7s
4. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) great Britain Cycling team, +12s
5. Eline Jansen (Ned) Volker Wessels,
6. Anna Henderson (Gbr) Great Britain Cycling team,
7. Victorie Guilman (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93,
8. Christine Majerus (Ned) SD Worx-Protime,
9. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv ALUla Jayco, all at same time
10. Lucy Lee (Gbr) DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK +4:01

Pfeiffer Georgi gave the setup on her team issue Scott Foil some of the credit for her podium ride at Paris-Roubaix Femmes on Saturday. 

After a barnstorming sprint finish in the Roubaix velodrome, Georgi grabbed third behind the race winner, Lotte Kopecky, and Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo. 

Standing on the edge of the track, the Londoner’s face exploded with joy when confirmation of her podium finish flashed across the big screens inside the arena. 

Earlier in the day, Cycling Weekly spotted an interesting addition to her bike, a Duncan SL Aero Comfort seat post, specially designed to absorb vibrations. Later on, when speaking to the media, Georgi praised her equipment setup and explained that it had helped her secure a podium finish. 

"I was really comfy today," she said. "We had a nice suspension in our seatpost, wider tyres and less pressure than we do for the other cobbled classics. Even in the recon, considering how tough they are, it actually was pretty smooth sailing on the cobbles. 

"I had full confidence in my bike, we’ve got great tyres as I had a little puncture but it actually sealed itself really early on. I had no problems later so I had full confidence in my materials and it got me to the podium."

Throughout the brutal day on the pavé, Georgi held her own alongside some of the biggest stars of women’s cycling. Georgi was ever present at the head of race alongside Kopecky, Marianne Vos and other star riders on the Lidl-Trek team. 

The 23-year-old explained that simply believing she belonged in the front group helped her hold her own alongside the world champion and ensured she could land a positive result in the final sprint for the line. 

"I think I believed coming into this race that i belonged in that top group," she said. "So I had a lot of confidence coming in. But it's nice to get that confirmation that I am at that level and belonged in that top group. So these results show what I believed before which was that I had the potential to do this in this spring period. 

"So yeah, I think it's nice to carry that forward for the rest of this year and next where I can make even more of a step up."

Much of the headlines in recent months have been based around the plight of the British domestic scene. Georgi said that her result in Roubaix was proof that the scene was still alive and that she hoped it could inspire future generations to come, as Lizzie Deignan’s victory had inspired her.

"Lizzie’s win here was monumental," she said. "She's always been one of my heroes growing up so that was a special moment back then. I think with me getting on the podium, I think it shows that there's a lot of British talent and in recent years there’s been a lot of riders stepping up to the WorldTour which is really nice to see.

"At that time, I didn't really know what sort of rider I was,” she added. “It was so exciting that we finally had this on our calendar. It’s really great to have such high profile calendars on our events like Roubaix and the Tour de France.

"At first I didn’t know if it would suit me, the first edition was pretty crazy for me, lots of crashes and bad luck…The last couple of years I’ve come back and got great results with two top ten finishes so I started to get a bit more of a better relationship with this race."

In the aftermath of her Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory, Lotte Kopecky praised her SD Worx teammates and said they had helped ensure she kept a calm and level head going into the cobbled Monument. 

The Belgian narrowly missed out on another Tour of Flanders victory last weekend which she explained only added extra determination to succeed this time out. 

Kopecky told the media post-race that the build up to Roubaix had been mixed with both nerves and excitement. She said that once the race started, that changed to confidence in her own ability as she could feel the faith that her teammates had in her and credited them for their part in the win. 

"I tried to stay as calm as possible today," she said. "After Sunday, the feeling was not what I wanted it to be but luckily I have really good friends, and a really good team behind me who really tried to keep me calm and gave me confidence. 

"They helped me try to spend these last few days with not too many worries…This morning of course, I was nervous but I was relaxed. I could really feel the confidence they had in me and I tried to take that good feeling with me into the race."

Kopecky was full of energy throughout the Monument and was regularly on the attack as each cobbled sector of the course arrived. In the end it came down to a dramatic sprint on the velodrome in which she got the better of Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo and Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm–firmenich PostNL). 

When asked whether her initial pre-race plan had worked, Kopecky said that everything had gone exactly as she expected, both on a personal level and for her team as a group. 

"It was exactly as we planned," she said. "We wanted to try to stay out of trouble in the first 60 kilometres and be right in front in the first three sectors… Before the first sector that I attacked on, I had Elena Cecchini who tried to position me and I knew I wanted to go there and see what happened."

The Dutch team, she explained, had the added bonus of having their star sprinter, Lorena Wiebes, in the chasing pack for if the race had come back together on the run in to the finish. 

"Of course going ahead with Marianne was not ideal for me," Kopecky said. "When I was with Marianne, I was just thinking that we still had the card to play with Lorena [Wiebes]. Today I really wanted to win myself but I was also really motivated that if there was a situation where we needed to go for it for Lorena, I was 110% committed to that."

As the lead group tore into the velodrome, the crowd erupted with delight at the sight of the world champion firmly in contention for the win. As well as her road world title, Kopecky holds multiple world titles on the track which led to some assuming she held the upper hand. 

Kopecky said that her track background hadn’t crossed her mind as she got ready to launch her sprint for the line. 

"Pfeiffer and Marianne also have track backgrounds," she said. "We all knew what we were doing. It's an advantage but I didn't think about it as they had this advantage too. It didn't really change anything for me, no."

"Before we came on the track it was already a big fight to try and get in position," she added. "Of course I knew that Marianne [Vos] and Elisa [Balsamo] would try to fight against each other and on the other side of the track there was a headwind. 

"They had to start the sprint pretty early so I tried to stay calm and start sprinting at the right moment. That was a long sprint but that's to my advantage and I did what I needed to do."

This year’s British National Road Championships will take place in the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire, British Cycling has announced. 

The event, scheduled for 19-23 June, will mark the second year in a row that the championships are held in the region, with the road races starting and finishing in Saltburn, as they did in 2023.

This year’s edition, however, will bring a "modified version" of the route with "fewer climbs", British Cycling outlined in a press release. Fred Wright and Pfeiffer Georgi earned national honours on Saltburn Bank last year, climbing 4,073m and 2,826m respectively on their way to victory in the men’s and women’s elite races.

"To win my first elite national road title on Saltburn Bank was incredibly special and it has been such a privilege to wear the national jersey in the pro peloton," Wright said. "It meant a huge about to win last year and I can’t wait to head back to the seaside and battle it out against the best riders in the country with some amazing crowds."

The championships will open with the time trial events on 19 June in North Yorkshire. Darlington town centre will then host the circuit races on 21 June, following on from last year’s event less than 30 miles away in Redcar. 

The road races will take place on 23 June, with laps through Saltburn and out onto the rolling terrain of the Tees Valley. "We had such a good battle last year," said Georgi, who won from a seven-rider move. "I can’t wait to race in front of home crowds again and try and retain my jersey once again."

The event’s return to the Tees Valley comes as part of an effort to grow cycling in the northeastern region. 

Councillor Carrie Richardson, deputy leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said her borough is "absolutely committed" to staging cycling events. 

"[It] gives us the opportunity to boost tourism and showcase the area as a great place to come on holiday and cycle with some of the best coastal and country views in the nation," she said. "We’ve become a key area for major cycling events in the last few years and long may that continue."

The detailed routes for the events will be released in due course. It is unknown at this stage if the road races will finish once again on Saltburn Bank, with its 22% maximum gradient, or somewhere else in the seaside town. 

Pfeiffer Georgi won the British National Road Championships for a second time on Sunday, and will once again don the tricolour bands of the national jersey. 

The 22-year-old DSM-Firmenich rider proved the strongest on a challenging circuit in Redcar and Cleveland, breaking away solo on the final ascent of Saltburn Bank, and crossing the line alone. 

Claire Steels of Israel-Premier Tech-Roland followed in second, while Jumbo-Visma’s Anna Henderson came third. 22-year-old Anna Shackley, who rides for SD Worx and finished fifth, was awarded the under-23 national title.

Speaking to the media after the race, Georgi said: “I'm so happy. The last hundred metres when I looked behind and I saw there was no one there, I was just in disbelief and just pure happiness to pull it off again.

“I’m a bit shocked and was like, ‘Oh, I've actually done it!’. It was so hard, the final climb. I went into the final lap with a plan to keep it together. I tested the waters with one lap to go to see if I could have the legs on the last climb, and just wait until then. I was feeling strong, so I just tried to keep it together and then just close my eyes, full gas up the climb, and in the end, it paid off. It feels amazing.” 

The victory came two years after her triumph at the 2021 Championships, when she powered up the steep, cobbled Michaelgate climb in Lincoln to take just her second professional win. 

"I think I came in with a bit more pressure than Lincoln, mostly from myself," she explained. "I was really hungry for winning, so it's amazing. It was a really hard course, attritional. I think the key was staying hydrated, fuelled, not doing too much in the beginning because this course wears you down. Constantly up and down, short, sharp climbs, and the heat also paid a part.

"It was nice to hear my name a few times, which doesn't happen much. This last climb was a wall of noise."

Sunday’s race played out like a Classic. After a few early attacks, the peloton splintered, before a strong nine-rider move went up the road. 

The group would wait until the sixth of seven laps to start their assaults. Steels was the first to force gaps, before Georgi dropped her breakaway companions on the penultimate ascent of Saltburn Bank. Though the move shortly came back together, the attack foreshadowed what the DSM-Firmenich rider would do in the finale, when nobody could hold the wheel of her race-winning kick. 

Born in Herne Hill, London, Georgi has developed into one of the strongest all-rounders in the peloton. The 22-year-old took on new duties as DSM-Firmenich’s road captain this year, and claimed her first WorldTour victory in March, winning the Classic Brugge-De Panne with a late breakaway attack. 

She will now swap out her black trade team jersey for a red, white and blue national champion’s kit, which she will wear at next month’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

A perfectly timed solo attack from Pfeiffer Georgi claimed the win at Brugge-Da Panne after the race split apart in the crosswinds of Belgium.

The Cycling Weekly columnist was one of two DSM riders in a front group of six when she launched her attack with just under seven kilometres to go.

Team-mate Megan Jastrab had softened up the group before Georgi flew off the front.

Georgi had been recovering from whiplash and suspected concussion in the weeks beforehand, but the only sickness on display on the Belgian road was a serious case of second group syndrome as the chasers, with top sprinters Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) and Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) among them, failed to cooperate almost as soon as Georgi attacked.

By the line her margin of victory for her first ever WorldTour win was over one minute. 

Behind her Balsamo came around Wiebes to claim the second spot on the podium.

Speaking after the finish Georgi was her typically modest self, she said: “We came in with a plan to race aggressively and the whole team did that so Ii was finishing off a great team effort.”

On her decisive attack she added: “We knew we couldn’t come to the finish with any of the sprinters so we knew we’d attack. Megan [Jastrab] tried first and set me up and then she just blocked from behind. I just went as hard as I could.

“My legs were feeling pretty tired at that point and the DS really shouting in my ear really helped.”

Georgi brushed off the suggestion she would now be one of the favourites for Gent-Wevelgem at the weekend saying the DSM squad would likely ride for Charlotte Kool.

How it happened

The windswept landscape was marginally kinder to the women’s peloton than it had been for the men yesterday but still there was drama. With 119km of the163km total race distance still to go a group of ten riders crashed including veteran MArat Bastianelli (UAE ADQ) who was riding her last race before retirement.

The race had to be stopped for a few minutes as they were blocking the road.

Then just a few kilometres later eight riders crashed including Brit Lizzie holder (UAE ADQ) but this time the race ploughed on.

At 61km to go the pace was high and the race took a 90 degree turn and the crosswinds whipping across the Belgian fields began to splinter the bunch as Megan Jastrab (DMS) pushed hard.

It was in the same location that the men’s race split apart too.

A front group comprising Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo), Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx), Alice Barnes (Human Powered Helath), Shari Bossuyt (Canyon-SRAM), Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM), Jule De Wilde (Fenix-Deceuninick), Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninick), Pfeiffer Georgi (DSM), Megan Jastrab (DSM), Amalie Dideriksen (Uno-X) formed. They held a fairly scant lead for some time but eventually it stretched out to 1.30 by the time there was 30km left to race and it was clear that the winner would come from this group.

But with 11.5km to go, as the pace went up and a split in the front  group emerged both Barnes and De Wilde crashed after Barnes touched wheels with the rider in front of her and De Wilde was unable to avoid Barnes prone figure, ruling them out of the finale.

Meanwhile, Schweinberger and Van der Duin were distanced from the six leaders.

DSM tired to work a one-two attack with Jastrab trying to gap the group at 7km to go before being swiftly brought to heel. 

Georgi immediately counter attacked and built a gap of around five seconds swiftly. The impetus of the group, which contained several of the best sprinters in the world dissolved almost as quickly.

She grimaced her way to the line alone.

After clinching her first WorldTour podium last season, former British road champion Pfeiffer Georgi is eager to repeat the feat. This time, though, she wants the top step. 

The 22-year-old, now in her fifth season at Team DSM, has taken up new leadership duties on the road, and feels stronger than ever. Speaking to Cycling Weekly, she explained that she has high hopes for this year's spring Classics. 

“I had a really good winter and I think I’ve physically made a step up,” Georgi said ahead of Saturday's Ronde van Drenthe. “I had a good end of last season, but the first few races this year, especially [Omloop Het] Nieuwsblad and just coming back from Strade [Bianche], I feel like I’m able to be more in the race and be more in the final.” 

At Omloop, the Brit was the only rider who dared to follow Lotte Kopecky’s attack on the Muur van Geraardsbergen. Georgi eventually crossed the line in fifth, her best result in the Belgian one-day race. 

“The whole team went in for me fully from the beginning,” she said. “That’s a new role for me, because I’ve always been kind of support and then the road captain.

“It was my responsibility to follow the favourites. I just saw her [Kopecky] come past and I thought I might as well try. For me, in this role, I don’t really know where I’m at or where I am compared to others. I thought, ‘If I don’t try, I’m not going to know where I am.’ Yeah, I couldn’t keep up, but I tried at least.” 

The following weekend, in her first outing at Strade Bianche, Georgi finished tenth, recording her third top 10 of the season. 

The Team DSM rider pins her early-season form on a multitude of factors. “I moved to Girona in the winter and I feel like that’s kind of helped my climbing," she explained. "I feel like I've been able to get a lot of good quality training and exposure to that terrain, the longer climbs. That definitely shapes you a bit as a rider.

“Straight from off season, I started off with more [training] intensity than I have in previous years. Before, it was always just building base, getting the endurance miles in. I think now that I've got a pretty good base, I’m able to push it, the intensity, a bit earlier. 

“I feel like I’ve really benefited because I can kind of make a step now I’ve already got the groundwork done.” 

Another thing she seems to have benefited from is the departure of her team-mate Lorena Wiebes, who joined SD Worx at the start of the season. 

Asked if the Dutchwoman’s move has altered her role in the team, Georgi said: “I think it definitely has. Now, I’m Charlotte [Kool]’s last lead-out, whereas before, I was a position back. 

“Racing wise, I think it [Wiebes's move] allows us to be a bit more aggressive, and we’ve got Charlotte as the card, but we’ve also got a lot of other strong riders, me able to race in the Classics a bit more, which is a nice opportunity.” 

With her new role, however, comes added pressure. “I think it helps that I’m not like a top favourite or a big name,” she said. “It’s more the pressure coming from myself. I kind of feel like, when all the girls ride for me all day, then I have a responsibility to perform, so that’s where the pressure comes from for me.” 

Now, Georgi wants to repay them. Her calendar lists all her favourite races - Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders - and she knows that if she continues to build on her form, the results will follow.  

“I’d love to podium in a Classic,” she said, when asked about her season ambitions. “That’s one of my goals for the spring this year. And also to win a race. I think last year was my first WorldTour podium [at Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden], so to be able to win a race, that would be a goal of mine.”

Not every rider can be in the limelight. In every race peloton, there are domestiques and team leaders who slip under the radar, but deserve plaudits as much as anyone. 

Forget Remco Evenepoel, Annemiek van Vleuten and Wout van Aert, here are seven of 2022’s unsung heroes. 

Lennard Kämna

Bora-Hansgrohe won their first Grand Tour in 2022, and although the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia fell on Jai Hindley’s shoulders, the team owes a lot to Lennard Kämna.

After taking a stage win on day four atop Mount Etna, the German focused his energy on helping Hindley. Kämna was crucial in the Australian’s race-winning move, dropping back from the breakaway on the penultimate day to drag his team-mate away from Richard Carapaz. 

The following month, Kämna landed his first national title, winning the individual time trial at the German National Championships. 

Louis Meintjes

At 30 years old, the diminutive South African climber enjoyed his best season to date. He came second on the Tour de France’s queen stage on Alpe d’Huez, ultimately finishing the Grand Tour in 7th, his highest ever placing. 

Meintjes then went on to add to his successes in August, taking his first WorldTour victory on stage nine of the Vuelta a España. 

“It’s something special, it still needs some time to set in,” he said after the race. “I’ve never been on the podium of a WorldTour race except for a team classification, so that was one of my main goals before stopping my career.”

Grace Brown 

The FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope rider opened 2022 with a national time trial title, and held fine form throughout the entire year. 

Frustratingly, perhaps, the podium’s top step often eluded Brown. She came second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Women’s Tour and the World Championships, narrowly missing out to Ellen van Dijk in the time trial in Wollongong, Australia. 

Don’t feel sorry for her, though. The Australian added five wins to her palmarès, including a gold medal against the clock at the Commonwealth Games.

Enric Mas

Enric Mas was 2022’s late bloomer. In the summer, he pulled out of the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France, in what looked set to be a year to forget. 

Then came the Vuelta a España. Though Remco Evenepoel looked unbeatable, Mas was the only rider who could get within touching distance. The 27-year-old finished a valiant second, recording his third runners-up medal at his home Grand Tour. 

Mas then rode his form into the end-of-season Italian one-dayers, where he jostled with two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, dropping him to win the Giro dell’Emilia. Sadly for the Spaniard, Pogačar then came up trumps in Lombardy.

Pfeiffer Georgi

Having won the National Championships in 2021, all eyes were on the Team DSM rider this season. The 22-year-old started strongly with a top 10 at Paris-Roubaix, before taking her first WorldTour podium at Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden and a silver medal in the U23 road race at the World Championships. 

As DSM’s road captain, Georgi also proved an important engine in the lead-out train that guided Lorena Wiebes to an astonishing 23 victories.

Brandon McNulty 

UAE Team Emirates, decimated by Covid-19 infections, finished the 2022 Tour de France with just four riders. One of them was super domestique Brandon McNulty, who dug deep to keep his team leader Pogačar in yellow jersey contention. 

In the third and final week of the race, UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti told VeloNews: “Now all the world has discovered that we have a great, great rider in the team.

“He is a very good climber and very good in the time trial,” Gianetti added, before outlining that the best is yet to come for the American.

Silvia Persico 

The 25-year-old Italian enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2022, taking the first, second and third professional victories of her career. 

At the Tour de France Femmes, where all eyes were on Van Vleuten, Persico put in a stellar performance. The Valcar-Travel & Service rider finished fifth in the overall standings, claiming the honour of the highest placed rider on a Continental team.

She then went on to take bronze in the road race at the World Championships, teeing herself up for a strong season with UAE Team ADQ next year. 

Pfeiffer Georgi won Team GB’s only medal during Saturday’s evening session of the European Track championships in Munich.

The 21 year-old rode an intelligent, confident race, positioning herself well throughout, moving further forward as the bunch shrank, and only looked threatened when head to head with Lotte Kopecky in the final two laps. 

Then, though she managed to position herself on Belgian’s wheel, Kopecky was too strong for the Brit, out-sprinting her to take the title.

The event was marred by a huge crash, which took down a number riders. Racing was suspended for 40 minutes while world champion Letizia Paternoster was treated at track side, then evacuated to hospital. It has since been reported she was conscious and has suffered only minor injuries.

The championships are being run on a 200m track as opposed to the more standard 250m loop, and while there is no evidence the tighter circuit had anything to do with the Elimination race crash, it has changed teams’ tactical approach.

Built specifically for the championships, the velodrome is a temporary structure built in a Munich exhibition hall, but with the Sprint races remaining at three laps, the distance is considerably shorter. This has encouraged competitors to go long or to simply hold the inside the line, forcing their opponents to ride the long way round.

This tactic worked well for Brit Hamish Turnbull. The underdog going into his Sprint quarter final against Mateusz Rudyk, he forced the Polish rider wide and into the same mistake twice, winning their clash with just two of the allowed three races.

Jack Carlin also qualified for the semi in two races. He was the fastest qualifier for Saturday’s quarter finals and duly got through, beating Hungarian Sándor Szalontay, meaning Team GB are now guaranteed a medal, as the two British riders will each face a Frenchman in Sunday’s semis, the final coming later that evening. 

The women’s 500m time trial was the evening’s opening event with five time sprint world champion, German Emma Hinze starting as the favourite after qualifying fastest in front of her home crowd.

Italian Miriam Vece was well placed early on, but was pipped by Ukrainian, Olena Starikova whose 33.403 was only 0.03 faster. However, last off, Hinze dominated, eventually winning gold by more than 0.7 of a second.

In the men’s Individual Pursuit home rider Nicolas Heinrich easily out-qualified his eventual opponent, Italian Davide Plebiani, but their gold medal race was a proper ding-dong battle. The German quickly gained a half second advantage, only for Plebani come back, but as the race hit the 3,000m mark the Italian tired and German took advantage, eventually winning by 3.5 seconds.

Before the bronze medal race Britain’s Charlie Tanfield had qualified half a second faster than his opponent, Manilo Moro, but leaked a deficit of half a second early in the 4,000m race. In the final kilometre he began chipping away at the Italian but was unable to get on terms, perhaps needed ing one more lap, eventually losing by a fraction. 

The biggest surprise of the evening came in the women’s Individual Pursuit gold medal race. A clash of the titans, two Germans, Lisa Brennauer against Mieke Kröger. Both were part of the Team Pursuit winning quartet on Friday and are World and Olympic champions in that discipline. 

Brennauer though is the individual pursuit world champion and qualified nearly 1.5 seconds faster than her compatriot. However, despite the older woman opening up an early lead of over more than a second, Kröger pegged her friend and compatriot back, eventually winning by 1.1 seconds. 

The two women’s embrace afterwards was made more poignant as it was Brennauer’s final track race before retiring after the championships’ road events. 

Team GB’s Josie Knight was always likely to be up against it in the bronze medal race after qualifying 0.7 second behind third placed qualifier, Vittoria Guazzini. The Italian duly went on to take third place by more than two seconds.

There are only three medal races on Sunday, the Women’s Point Race followed by the men’s Elimination, with the Sprint closing the fourth day of competition.

It must be something about the theatre and atmosphere of the Roubaix velodrome that provokes riders to sprint for every last place.

That's what Pfeiffer Georgi did, sprinting to ninth place from the second chasing group on the road at Paris-Roubaix, thereby netting one of the standout results of her nascent career.

The British champion said immediately afterwards that despite it being "really hard", she "loved every minute of it". 

"It was pretty crazy to be fighting for a top ten finish," Georgi explained. "I wasn’t expecting it today. Last year was so hard and I didn’t know how it would go but I felt really strong, and coming into this velodrome just gives you so much motivation to dig deep. I just gave it everything I had to the line."

This was her fifth top ten result in a Women's WorldTour race, but it was certainly a statement one. Its the second best-ever finish by a British woman at Paris-Roubaix, and while there have obviously only been two editions so far, it is something to note and build on.

"I enjoyed it. It was really hard, I loved every minute of it actually," Georgi said. "With the weather obviously. 

"It was a big group for most of the race, which was nice actually. Positioning was crucial. It was nice to have me and Floortje [Mackaij] there together until Carrefour. We could help each other with positioning and use our numbers a bit in the group at the end."

However, it was "absolutely brutal", although it was nothing on last year's race, which was ridden in the rain and mud of October.

"Last year was just carnage and crashes from the off, I can't say it was similar," she said. "It definitely was a new race." 

"It's a race I'd love to target in the future. I'm really happy, I didn't expect to get a top ten at Roubaix, I'm still quite young. It has given me a lot of confidence actually.

"When I raced it last year I hadn't done a recon at all, the first time on the sectors was in the race, so this year I came into it with a lot more knowledge."

With more knowledge, the Briton might just come back and finish even higher in the future. Georgi is definitely one to watch.

This article forms part of a week of women's focused stories, in celebration of our Women's Special edition of Cycling Weekly Magazine, one sale from Thursday, March 10. See the full schedule of upcoming articles here.

We only needed to ask Pfeiffer Georgi one question about her National Championships win when we speak to her a few weeks after her Lincoln success. Her eyes light up and without further prompting she recounts every detail.

How she felt about the cold wet weather; “Yay, this is what I like!” About forming the winning break first time up the cobbled Michaelgate climb; “I knew that positioning was crucial, so I made sure I was right at the front and it actually split there.” 

About her mid-race plans; “I didn’t think that if it came to the bottom last time up that I would win, so I was planning an attack.” And how those plans changed: “I had a switch in my head and I thought maybe I could win this… but I was trying to play it cool and be patient, and be prepared to lose to win.

“I didn’t want to settle for less, I didn’t want to aim for the under-23 jersey, I wanted to win. I was at the level when I could, but I don’t think I really believed that I would because not everyone gets to win nationals in their career and I thought that won’t happen to me.

“But my coach and my team-mates and Albert [Timmer, DSM sports director] were telling me to believe that I could win, so I think some of the confidence came from them.”

This year Georgi has become an integral part of the lead-out for DSM’s sprinter Lorena Wiebes, often directing operations as road captain. She finished sixth at the Women’s Tour, put in a strong ride at the world championships, and five weeks before winning in Lincoln scored a maiden professional victory at La Choralis Fourmies.

Cycling is in Georgi’s blood. Her grandfather rode until he lost his sight, her Dad, Peter still races and is a former European masters track champion, her brother, Etienne raced for Team Wiggins, and her mum occasionally rides local time trials. It’s fair to say cycling has always been part of the family routine.

“At the weekends we’d always go out on club runs, and when I was training more seriously it was nice to have my brother and my Dad for some good strong company.”

Aged around four, her initial foray into racing on the track didn’t go well. “I didn’t quite get the concept that you couldn’t stop pedalling, so I stopped and I got flung over the handlebars and I cut my arms and legs and I said ‘I’m never doing this again!'”

But she did, and two years later rode her first road race at the Castle Coombe race track in Wiltshire, finishing as third Under 8. Her dad was also third in E/1/2 that day and brother Etienne 11th in the U11s, while other notable rides that day saw future Olympic star Elinor Barker finish fifth in the U14, two places behind fellow future Olympian Owain Doull.

“Every Thursday night I’d race there and it was fun because we had a good group of us kids because we’d race and then we’d go into the park and then we’d play games and eat fish and chips, it was  a social thing. I still loved it when I had to start training more seriously even at junior, I never felt like I had to do it, or pressure from parents, I never felt that. And now I still love training and that’s one of the best bits about my job I think, I love winter training and going out in the cold and finding new roads.”

Riding for Mid Devon CC, her first win came later that year and over the ensuing seasons victory became a regular thing, dragging her parents all over the country, racing road and track, steadily gaining experience and endurance. 

As she grew her dad and fellow club member Mark Dolan, established Liv-Halo Films, a club team designed to ease the transition for the group of girls which included both their daughters, Georgi joined by Lauren Dolan, who went on to win a bronze medal in the mixed team relay at the 2019 worlds.

The team was dominant, the girls competing and winning on road and track, and when they were granted a surprise entry to the 2017 Junior Ghent-Wevelgem Georgi brought them a foreign win. Second in the next round of the Nations Cup, the three day Omloop van Borsele, Georgi finished 2017 seventh in the junior worlds time trial and sixth in the road race.

Her second Junior year bought a move to the British Cycling Academy and more international success in the Nation’s Cup, with three victories, and, she signed for Sunweb for 2019. 

Ambition

Annoyingly talented, polite, intelligent and engaging, maybe a constant eye on the future is Georgi’s only fault. “I was thinking about learning for next year because I have got another opportunity,” she told us shortly after her top 10 performances at the Bergen Junior worlds in 2017.

“She always looks forward to the next one,” says her DSM director, Timmer. “After the win in France I asked what she was going to do and she says ‘Go to bed and go to sleep.’ I told her you also need to stop and celebrate when you have won a race, that’s what you train for.

“But she’s really ambitious, she wants to step up and win races, but at the same time she also looks to how the team can win races.” This ability to see the big picture and a tactical astuteness which belies her age has seen the team use Georgi increasingly as road captain,

“This year the lead out was more down to Pfeiffer than Lorena, and they did quite a lot together they are on a really high level,” Timmer continues. "She’s crazy young and if you see what she has already done, especially in the second part of this season, not only physically, but as a person she’s made really big steps.”

A week after nationals, deep into October when others might have been dreaming of drinks on the beach, Georgi debuted her British champion’s jersey at Ronde van Drenthe with a ride which encapsulated her 2021 season.

Road captain again, she instigated a late break with Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM), who she had deposed as national champion, and stayed at the front when they were caught 13km from the line. After helping bring back a dangerous three woman break, she then led out sprinter Wiebes for the win, finishing sixth herself.

It’s a far cry from her first visit to the Dutch event in 2019, her second after joining Sunweb aged just 18, her first WorldTour race and her first 100 mile ride.

“I remember that being the most crazy race,” she reflects. “I crashed five kilometres in and then it was just crosswinds and it took me an hour to get back to the front, and I only ate like two gels the whole race. I didn’t know anything. 

“I got dropped so many times but kept fighting to get back and trying to do what I could for the team. I completely exploded on some of the last cobbled sections because I hadn’t eaten and it had been so hard. So that was a massively different feeling compared to Drenthe this year where I felt like I’m part of the race.”

“This feels like my first proper season,” she explains. “The first year elite I was still doing my A Levels, and last year I barely raced, with COVID, so having a consistent block of training and a full calendar of racing has really brought me on.

“I started getting more results and I was getting more leadership and being captain everything built. Confidence is a big thing.” 

So what of the future? “I want to be good for 10 years. I want to be a strong Classics rider and win races like Flanders and Roubaix and my dream is to be road world champion.”

This article forms part of a week of women's focused stories, in celebration of our Women's Special edition of Cycling Weekly Magazine, one sale from Thursday, March 10. See the full schedule of upcoming articles here.