Pfeiffer Georgi, Stevie Williams and Lizzie Deignan are among the many names aiming for glory on the British Nationwide Highway Championships this month, as the beginning lists had been launched on Monday.
The highway, circuit and time trial occasions will happen within the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire over 19-23 June, and mark the second 12 months in a row that the championships are held within the area, with the highway races beginning and ending in Saltburn, as they did in 2023.
Georgi of dsm-firmenich PostNL will probably be in search of to retain the bands she gained for a second time in 2023 within the girls’s highway race, however will face stiff competitors from the likes of Deignan (Lidl-Trek), and Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike), with the latter ending second final 12 months and likewise on the Tour of Britain Girls.
Deignan gained the mountains jersey on the Tour of Britain, proving her climbing prowess within the course of.
“I’m delighted to be again racing at one other nationwide championships, particularly at house on Yorkshire roads,” she mentioned in a press launch. “The biking followers listed here are the most effective on the earth and will probably be nice to have folks cheering from the roadside. Each the boys’s and ladies’s fields are actually robust line ups so will probably be an awesome week of racing.”
“Profitable my second nationwide title final 12 months on Saltburn Financial institution was simply superb, and sporting the nationwide jersey on the world stage is so particular,” Georgi added. “Girls’s racing on the minute is so thrilling and we had such an excellent battle final 12 months. I can’t wait to race in entrance of house crowds once more and attempt to retain my jersey as soon as once more.”
Different favourites for the ladies’s race will embrace Elinor Barker (Uno-X Mobility), former champion Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM) and Claire Steels (Movistar).
The newest race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
The lads’s highway race was gained in 2023 by Fred Wright, who’s on the beginning checklist for 2024, however it’s unknown if he’s set to defend his title.
Rivalling him for the British champion bands would be the pair who completed on the rostrum behind Wright final 12 months, James Knox (Soudal Fast-Step) and Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech). Williams has had a sensational 12 months, profitable the Tour Down Below in January, earlier than turning into the first British man to win La Flèche Wallonne in April. He’ll possible be the favorite.
Additionally difficult within the highway race would be the Groupama-FDJ trio of Sam Watson, Lewis Askey, and Matt Partitions, EF Schooling-EasyPost’s Owain Doull, James Shaw, and Lukas Nerurkar, and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Ben Tullett and Thomas Gloag.
The Ineos Grenadiers contingent accommodates Luke Rowe in his final Nationwide Championships, together with former champions Ben and Connor Swift, Ethan and Leo Hayter, Ben Turner, and Josh Tarling.
Josh Tarling celebrates with Connor Swift after profitable in 2023
(Picture credit score: SWPix/Alex Whitehead)
Tarling, defending his title, would be the excellent favorite for the boys’s time trial, with the European champion commonly mixing it with the most effective on the world stage. He’ll face competitors from Ethan Hayter and Connor Swift.
“I’m actually excited to race at nationals this 12 months,” he mentioned. “The nationwide championships are at all times actually particular and it has been superb to put on the nationwide stripes within the time-trials this 12 months. Will probably be nice to be again racing on British roads and I am trying ahead to some top-level racing.”
The ladies’s time trial will probably be focused by defending champion Lizzie Holden, however the subject is stacked with expertise, together with former winner Henderson, Joss Lowden (Uno-X Mobility), and final 12 months’s podium finishers Anna Morris and Barker.
The total begin lists for the highway races, circuit races, and time trials are accessible on British Biking’s web site.
