Millie Couzens wins British National Championships road race, her first ever elite win

Millie Couzens out-sprinted Pfeiffer Georgi and Anna Henderson in Aberystwyth to take victory in the elite women's road race at the British National Road Championships on Sunday.

The Fenix-Deceuninck rider produced an impressive sprint to deny Picnic PostNL's Georgi her third consecutive title, with Lidl-Trek's Henderson finishing on the podium for the fifth time.

Couzens added the elite women's road title - and the red, white and blue jersey - to the victory she took in the under-23 women's time trial on Thursday.

“Nationals is always quite a hard race to play tactically, everyone’s a little isolated and no one wants to commit too much," she said post-race. "There was a point when the break had quite a big gap and I was worried, but luckily I had help from a few other teams and Flora [Perkins] to help control it a little bit.

“I’m so grateful for Flora, without her I don’t think we were going to bring them back. I’m so happy, it’s not the way I thought it was going to go, so it’s a good week.”

The 128km-long race came down to four riders in the end, with Georgi's teammate Josie Nelson in fourth after performing a lead out. The select group of four was only formed on the final lap around Aberystwyth, after more than three hours of racing.

It was Couzens' Fenix-Deceuninck teammate Flora Perkins who did a lot of work to bring the lead pair of Becky Storrie (Picnic PostNL) and Jess Roberts (Spectra Racing).

Georgi looked like the strong favourite to win her fourth national title, given the lead group contained three Picnic PostNL riders at the beginning of the final lap, Storrie being the third.

A strong group behind which contained the elite women's TT champion Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Cat Ferguson (Movistar) could not bridge the gap to the leaders, and therefore the sprint was between Georgi, Nelson, Henderson and Couzens.

Nelson led the four out as the race returned to the seafront, with Couzens opening up the sprint, but could not be rounded, with Georgi running out of road, and Henderson powering to third.

At 21, Couzens also claimed the under-23 title as well as the elite crown, in an incredibly successful few days in west Wales for the rider from Oxfordshire.

Lauren Dickson followed in for fifth, another eye-catching result for the Handsling Alba Development rider in her first full year in racing.

Results

British National Road Championships 2025 - Elite women's road race (128km)

1. Millie Couzens, Fenix-Deceuninck, in 3:28:06
2. Pfeiffer Georgi, Picnic PostNL
3. Anna Henderson, Lidl-Trek, both at same time
4. Josie Nelson, Picnic PostNL, +2s
5. Lauren Dickson, Handsling Alba Development, +45s
6. Zoe Bäckstedt, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, +51s
7. Cat Ferguson, Movistar
8. Eilidh Shaw, UAE Development
9. Imogen Wolff, Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
10. Grace Lister, Hess Cycling, +54s