Ethan Hayter takes men’s title and is then named in GB’s Olympic road squad, reports Adam Becket
Pfeiffer Georgi and Ethan Hayter are set to fly the flag for Britain in the second half of 2024, after both were victorious at the road races of the National Championships last Sunday. It was a third victory for Georgi, and a second in a row for the 23-year-old from Gloucestershire; the DSM-Firmenich PostNL rider admitted later that she effectively “copied and pasted” her 2023 race, to great effect. The races took place on largely the same course, dominated by the Saltburn Bank finish.
Meanwhile, Hayter of Ineos Grenadiers has won two national championships before, but these were the time trial crowns, and victory in the road race put an end to a difficult period for the 25-year-old, who has gone over a year without victory.
Both the men’s and women’s racesor ‘open’ and women’swere aggressive affairs, with the final climb up the Bank proving decisive.
The British tricolour bands will not be present at the men’s Tour de France, with Hayter not part of Ineos’s general classification-focused plans; interestingly, he has only ever raced one Grand Tour for the squad, despite being there since 2020. In his contract year, this was a big victory for the Londoner.
Hayter, a part of GB’s four-man squad for the road race at the Paris Olympics, where he is likely to ride in support of his Ineos teammate Tom Pidcock, might just have edged himself into a spot as an outside favourite with his performance on a lumpy course in North Yorkshire.
Georgi, however, is likely to wear the red, white and blue bands on the roads of the Netherlands, Belgium and France at the Tour de France Femmes in August, as a key member of her DSM team.
Déja vu
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. That’s how simple it was for Georgi, she “copied and pasted” her ride at the 2023 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-toback, 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).
