Millie Couzens had already had a good British National Road Championships by Thursday afternoon. The 21-year-old, who rides for Fenix-Deceuninck, stormed to victory in the under-23 women’s time trial with a time which would have seen her finish fifth in the elite version.
"I wasn't really expecting it," she explained to Cycling Weekly on Tuesday morning. "I was already happy with that. And then obviously, the road race was my main goal for the week. But I knew even if that didn't go to plan, it was nice. I had got something out of the week already.
"I thought my form was quite good, but it was a confidence boost to know that my legs were there."
After almost four hours of racing in Aberystwyth, the road race came down to a three-up sprint.
Picnic PostNL’s Josie Nelson led out her teammate Pfeiffer Georgi as the race returned to the sea front for a final time, and all money would have been on the latter winning for a third straight year, with perennial podium finisher Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) also in the mix. Couzens, though, had other ideas, opening up the sprint and proving strong enough to take the win.
In the process, she claimed the under-23 title too, although that was of lesser importance given she had just won the elite race.
"I wouldn’t say I was fully confident, but I thought a sprint was probably my best chance," Couzens explained. "I’ve had a few results from sprints this year, so I know I can do well if I start in the right position and launch at the right time, then it probably is my best shot. I just had to fully commit and hope.
"At one point, I think there was just me and Anna, and then three Picnic riders. It played out well for me in the end, but you never really know what they're going to do. It makes it a bit more difficult when you're a bit isolated in that kind of situation."
"I think next week I'm out racing, and once I actually have the jersey on, maybe then it will feel real. But at the moment, no, it still doesn't really feel that real," she added.
A good week is an understatement after the breakthrough that Couzens had in west Wales; she will now wear the British national jersey with pride over the next year.
Perhaps we should have seen this result coming, with Couzens sprinting to third at Dwars door het Hageland behind winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) just a fortnight previously; 2025 has also seen her best result at Women’s WorldTour level, second on stage one of Itzulia Women, behind Mischa Bredewold (also SD Worx-Protime).
"That was a massive confidence boost for me, knowing that it was quite a hard race, and knowing that I could still be there on quite a hard finish as well the cobbled climb," she said of her performance at Hageland.
The rider from Banbury, Oxfordshire, has been present at Fenix-Deceuninck since it was Continental squad Plantur-Pura in 2022, alongside her peer Flora Perkins. A maiden elite victory might now mean we see a lot more of Couzens on podiums in red, white, and blue.
"Once Flora finished, it was super nice, because she helped a lot," Couzens continued. "So it was good to be able to celebrate with her. And my mum was there as well, everyone was really happy.
"Before no one really knew who I was, but now I’m going to stand out, so that’ll be different."
At 21, she is still trying to figure out what kind of rider she is, although this result helps: "I prefer a hard race with some punchy climbs and then probably a reduced group sprint. I'm still learning and just trying out different kinds of races and different situations and seeing what works well for me and what doesn't.
"Hopefully I can just continue to build on this and keep getting some more opportunities and trying to get some more results," Couzens concluded.
