Pfeiffer Georgi made it a hat-trick of national road race titles in the Saltburn sunshine, while Ethan Hayter was victorious in a fiercely contested men’s race, as the 2024 Lloyds Bank National Road Championships came to a close.
Flora Perkins and Bob Donaldson were the under-23 winners, and joined this year’s other national champions in collecting the coveted red, white and blue national champion’s jersey.
Taking in the iconic Saltburn Bank climb, the women’s race was contested over five laps and 130km, with the men’s race decided over seven laps and 182km, as thousands descended ontr the seaside to see our winners crowned.
Women’s race
The first break of the day was formed by Miriam Jessett (Loughborough Lightning), Sian Botteley (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) and Lizi Brooke (Pro-Noctis - 200º Coffee - Hargreaves Contracting), who quickly established a lead of a minute on the three chasers and two minutes on the peloton after the first lap.
The trio battled well throughout the first half of the race and built up a lead of more than four and a half minutes, but as the peloton sparked into life and the pace quickened, Jessett and Botteley were dropped by the defiant Brooke.
Brooke continued her time-trial to hold off the chasing peloton, and still enjoyed a considerable lead of 35 seconds as the race entered its final lap. However, with 33km to go Anna Henderson (TEAM VISMA - LEASE A BIKE) stepped up the pace, going past Brooke and splitting the peloton in two, with only 13 riders able to match the newly-crowned national time-trial champion’s pace.
As the reduced peloton scaled Saltburn Bank once again, Claire Steels (Movistar Team) surged off the front, closely followed by former champion Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-TREK). This whittled down the front group further to just nine riders, with two more former champions in Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Alice Towers (CANYON // SRAM Generation) among them.
A mechanical on the climb looked to have ruled Steels out of contention, but some valiant riding alongside Frankie Hall (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) and Sophie Wright (Fenix-Deceuninck) saw them bridge back to the leaders to form a group of 11 as the race entered the final 20km.
With 11km to go, Elinor Barker (Uno-X Mobility) was the first to burst off the front, with Henderson following closely. While their effort briefly stretched the reduced peloton, the group managed to hold together, with Towers next to test their resolve with two attacks in quick succession.
It was Wright who was first to gain a significant gap, capitalising on some hesitancy in the bunch to quickly build a 16 second advantage. With the national champion’s jersey coming into view in the final kilometres, disaster struck with a back wheel puncture at the worst possible moment to take her out of the running.
As the group entered Saltburn for the final time, Georgi set a blistering pace on the final climb to the finish which nobody could follow, despite the best efforts of Henderson and Deignan, who were forced to settle for second and third behind.
A brilliant finish saw Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck), Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Towers take fourth, fifth and sixth on the road, and the top three places in the under-23 standings, while Hall kept pace with the front group superbly to take 10th place, and the highest finish of the British UCI Continental team riders.
Afterwards, Georgi said:
“It’s really special, I actually didn’t expect to win. I wasn’t feeling the best during the race - there was a lot of attacks and I was suffering. The team really supported me and Josie [Nelson] set me up perfectly. I just sprinted as hard as I could up the climb and I didn’t look back until the top. It’s just as special every time and it’s an honour to wear the jersey. National champs is always such a hard race to win with so many different dynamics. Once is hard, but to win it three times is really special.”
Perkins added:
“It feels really cool actually – my first national jersey! I’m just happy with the race in general, I’m pleased with the result and pleased with the performance.”
Men’s race
A flurry of attacks kicked off the men’s race, with no time to waste over the 180km, as British UCI Continental team Saint Piran looked to control the pace and keep the bunch together.
Looking to ascend Saltburn Bank for the first time, a group of six put the hammer down to form a breakaway, including former national champion Connor Swift and Thursday’s national time-trial champion Josh Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers), as well as last year’s under-23 winner Sam Watson (GROUPAMA – FDJ).
The six were soon joined by the likes of Friday’s national circuit champion Lewis Askey (GROUPAMA – FDJ), Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech), Ollie Wood (Saint Piran), Owain Doull (EF Education – EasyPost), Tom Martin (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Matthew Brennan (Team Visma-Lease a Bike Development) and Bob Donaldson (Trinity Racing) - all of who continued to be active throughout the race.
Drives from Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) and Finlay Pickering (Bahrain-Victorious) saw them bridge over, before a fractured peloton closed the gap as they descended back into Saltburn at the end of the second lap. Capitalising on a tired bunch, Connor Swift attacked up Saltburn Bank, but was unable to establish a good gap on the formidable peloton as the race split into two.
The front of the race continued to ebb and flow, with attacks from Ben Swift, Brennan, Dan Mclay (Team Arkea-Samsic) and Askey causing a 30 second split to the chasers, and 50 second gap to the peloton.
Time-trial silver medallist Max Walker (Astana Qazaqstan Development Team) spearheaded the front group of approximately 15 riders up Saltburn Bank coming into the fourth lap, forging a small advantage before being reeled back in. The leading group continued to push on, racking up a gap of one minute 30 seconds to the chasing group.
Having ridden conservatively in the first four laps, Ethan Hayter (INEOS Grenadiers) made his presence known in lap five with a move off the front with Askey, Stewart, Donaldson and Walker, sharing the workload to establish over a minute’s gap.
Joe Blackmore (Israel – Premier Tech) and Connor Swift managed to bridge over on the sixth lap to join their teammates, applying pressure which saw Stewart distanced from the group. Hayter, Walker and Askey went hard off the front in the penultimate lap, forcing a 45 second gap on Swift, Donaldson and Blackmore.
A last gasp effort from Swift saw him put in a monster attack with 14km to go as the gap to the top trio hit a minute and nine seconds.
Hayter and Askey distanced 22-year-old Walker, before he fought back to get the wheel as the three hit Saltburn Bank for the final time. Askey attacked first and put in a huge effort off the front, but Hayter was hot on his wheel and stormed past as they reached the steepest part of the climb, forcing enough distance to cross the line unchallenged with his arms outstretched.
Speaking after his win, Hayter said:
“It’s really nice with my family being here. I’ve not won a race for a while so it’s really nice. As a team, we really worked together quite well. I was a bit nervous but at the end when you can sprint up a climb like that and it’s so fast but I just lapped up the crowd. I’ve been jealous of [Fred Wright] all year in the stripes so it’s nice to take them off him!”
A six place for Donaldson saw him take the under-23 title, while seventh and eighth for Tarling and Blackmore sealed the podium.
Donaldson said:
“It feels really cool actually. First national jersey! I’m just happy with the race in general, I’m pleased with the result and pleased with the performance.”
We’d like to say a huge thank you to our partners at Tees Valley Combined Authority, our event staff and volunteers, and the thousands who have come out to watch this year’s championships on the roadside.
Our 2024 winners
Time trial:
- Under-23 men’s time-trial: Tomos Pattinson
- Under-23 women’s time-trial: Josie Nelson
- Men’s time-trial: Josh Tarling
- Women’s time-trial: Anna Henderson
Circuit:
- Women: Emma Jeffers
- Open: Lewis Askey
Road:
- Under-23 men’s road race: Bob Donaldson
- Under-23 women’s road race: Flora Perkins
- Men’s road race: Ethan Hayter
- Women’s road race: Pfeiffer Georgi
