2023 British National Road Championship Results

A tough course and hot weather made for hard racing at the 2023 British National Road Championship

This year’s British National Road Championship took place on a 18.8km circuit, with 400 metres of climbing each lap. The women did seven laps of the circuit, while the men did ten. This meant the women would climb 2,826m and the men 4,073m, throw in hot weather and the riders were in for a hard race. Many reports said that the circuit was one of the hardest in recent years, one for the puncheurs. Riders would be competing for the Elite and Under 23 categories.

Women’s race

The women’s race was off first, with rider’s starting under blue skies and rising temperatures. The early laps saw riders being dropped off the back as the pace at the front increased. Claire Steels’ (Israel Premier Tech Roland) in particular had a devastating effect on the peloton, dragging a large group off the front. While the split didn’t last, it set the pattern for the race, with accelerations on the climbs seeing riders drop off the relentless pace.

With 50km to go a group of seven riders made the decisive split. The break consisted of; Claire Steels (Israel Premier Tech Roland, Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM), Elinor Barker (Uno X), Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo Visma), Alex Morrice (Canyon-SRAM) and Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx). Steels and Geogi made repeated attempts to try and escape the bunch, but it wasn’t until the final climb of Saltburn Bank that Georgi managed to escape the clutches of the break. Saltburn Bank with it’s 25% gradients and hairpins to boot proved too much for the rest of the break. Georgi soloed in five seconds ahead of Claire Steels, with Anna Henderson at thirteen seconds.

With only thirty three riders finishing from a field of over one hundred, we can assume that the course lived up to expectations. Amongst the finishers was Ruth Shier of Hutchinson-Brother UK, who is one of our contributors on CycleTechReview, well done Ruth!

Women’s British National Road Championship Results

Under-23 women’s result

1. Anna Shackley

2. Flora Perkins

3. Elynor Backstedt

Men’s race

Fred Wight (Bahrain-Victorious) took his first professional victory at the Men’s British National Road Championship. As well as celebrating his victory Wright dedicated his victory to his late team-mate Gino Mäder, who had a fatal accident in the Tour of Switzerland.

The first lap was run off at a terrific pace and saw a group of twenty tear itself off the front. The pace of the this group was constantly high, with riders attempting to break away. An attack through the feed-zone saw a group of six break away. The group managed to get a lead of a minute, but were brought back and another break formed with two laps to go. This group contained Owain Doull, Fred Wright, Connor Swift, James Knox, Sam Watson and Steven Williams and would go on to contest the finish.

On the penultimate ascent of Saltburn Bank Wright, Knox and Williams were off in pursuit of the podium. Wright launched his race-winning attack after countering Williams’ attack on the Brotton climb. Crossing the line eight seconds ahead of James Knox, Wright gave an emotional salute in memory of Gino Mäder. After the race Wright said, “I still can’t believe it, to be honest. I knew I had some of the best legs I’ve ever had today and it was so special to cross the line. I still imagined in my head, you know, 200 metres to go, ‘he’s going to come flying past me!’. It’s being able to wear the stripy jersey and then also for the rest of my career, I’ll have a little GB logo on my jersey as well. It means a lot to win this and I can’t wait for the next year.”

Men’s British National Road Championship Results

Under-23 men’s result

1.  Sam Watson

2. Joshua Golliker

3. Max Walker