Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) rides solo to win elite women's road race at 2023 British National Road Championships(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Pfeiffer Georgi of Team DSM wins the elite women's road race and reacts(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Start for elite women on road race Sunday from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, England(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
The breakaway climbing Saltburn Bank(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Claire Steels of Israel-Premier Tech Roland finishing second(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Anna Henderson of Team Jumbo-Visma finishing third(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Elite women's podium - winner Pfeiffer Georgi of Team DSM in centre, with Claire Steels of Israel Premier Tech Roland in second and Anna Henderson of Team Jumbo-Visma in third (Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Anna Shackley of Team SD Worx celebrates on the podium winning the under-23 category(Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) reclaimed the elite women's road race crown with a powerful final climb at the British Road Championships on Sunday. Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech Roland) trailed five seconds behind in Saltburn-by-the-Sea for the silver medal. Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) outsprinted Elinor Barker (Uno-X Pro Cycling) for the final spot on the podium.
A former winner of the national title in 2021 and finishing as the runner-up last year, Georgi made a decisive group of seven riders who battled across the final two circuits for the crown. After multiple attacks from riders failed, it was all together at the bottom of the final climb for Georgi to make her winning move.
“It was a really hard course today, constantly up and down. It was really attritional,” Georgi said. “I wanted to keep it all together on the last lap and take those corners first on the descent to the climb, then go full gas. I believed in it but I’m still in shock; it’s really nice to win the title again.”
The women raced a total of 132km on a 18.8km circuit that took in hilly roads around Redcar and Cleveland leading to the seafront finish at Saltburn.
Georgi attacked on the penultimate climb of the Saltburn Bank to begin the final lap, Alex Morrice (Canyon-SRAM), who had recovered from an earlier fall, trying to hold her back wheel. Also in the select group were Steels, Henderson, Barker, Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx) and Natalie Grinczer (Stade Rochelais Charente Maritime).
Georgi never let up on the gas, and on the final climb of Saltburn Bank, she pushed the accelerator again and never looked back.
“A group of about seven of us were away for the last few laps. I wasn’t so confident on the climbs originally so I tried with one lap to go on the climb, and I felt strong there which gave me the confidence.”
With her fifth-place finish, Shackley took the U23 women’s title. Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck Development) won the silver, finishing ninth overall, and the bronze went to Elynor Backstedt (Trek-Segafredo), who was 10 seconds behind Perkins and 10th overall.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
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