Pfeiffer Georgi hopes wearing the British champion’s jersey will give her a “boost” at the Tour de France Femmes.
The Gloucestershire rider is lining up as one of the leaders for Team DSM when the Tour begins on Sunday.
Georgi says she is enjoying the “best” year of her career so far, with three victories to her name.
“Getting to race the Tour in the British champion’s jersey is something that’s going to be pretty special,” Georgi told BBC Sport.
“I think when I had it before it just gave me confidence. Lining up, you have the reminder that you have achieved it and I think it just gave me that extra little boost last time and I’m really looking forward to it again.”
Georgi was first crowned British champion in October 2021 and repeated the feat this season after finishing runner-up last year.
With this year’s edition taking place on a circuit featuring the steep climb of Saltburn Bank, Georgi attacked on the penultimate ascent and temporarily opened up a gap. When the peloton returned for the final time, she accelerated again to win solo by five seconds.
“I knew that that sort of [climb] suited me, a one-two minute effort. I wasn’t sure, so with one lap to go I wanted to test myself and everyone else’s legs, so I did a bit of an attack there to see how everyone was feeling and see how I should play it,” Georgi said.
“It was really hard to judge how everyone else was feeling and then at the end [the shock] was the sudden realisation that I had actually done it.”
‘Switch to be more selfish’
This year has proved fruitful for Georgi. She moved to Girona in Spain last year and credits being able to maximise training in a warmer climate – with more hills and mountains at her disposal – for allowing her to start the year at a high level.
In March, she took an impressive solo victory at Brugge-De Panne – her first World Tour level win – and won Belgian semi-classic Dwars door de Westhoek three weeks before the nationals.
She also finished in the top 10 of spring classics such as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race.
“I think this is definitely my best season so far. I think I had a really good, solid winter out training in Spain,” Georgi said.
“This is my fifth year in the team, and the elite peloton, and that’s just a natural progression. I think my progress has been quite gradual when I first signed and now I’m growing into myself as a rider and developing.”
This season has also seen Georgi take on a leadership role within her Dutch team for the first time, which has brought new responsibilities and challenges.
“I found it a bit daunting to begin with because I’ve always been a support rider and then more recently like a road captain, so you’re always thinking about other people and doing your job for them and always asking how they are,” she said.
“It’s a switch to make, to be a bit more selfish to focus on yourself, and ask people to do things.
“I felt a little bit of the pressure that you are the one that has to get the result at the end of the day and perform, that was a new feeling for me, but I don’t think it had a negative impact on my racing and it ended up going quite well from the start.
“That made it easier, that they were doing this work and had this belief and I was backing it up getting results.”
A Tour with lots of opportunities
Next for Georgi is one of the biggest races on the calendar, the Tour de France Femmes, which returns in its current guise for the second year.
The eight-stage race begins in Clermont-Ferrand on 23 July – the same day the men’s edition finishes in Paris – and features four flat stages, a time trial and a summit finish on the famous Tourmalet mountain in the Pyrenees.
“I’m really excited as I think it’s going to be a really fun, really exciting Tour. The courses look challenging and also quite open some of them, I think they can go either way,” Georgi said.
“Some of the stages are completely place-to-place, so the wind can play a factor. There’s really long days with mountains which could be so decisive for GC [general classification].
“There’s a lot of opportunities even before the Tourmalet where GC can be impacted and I think the sprint battle is going to be really exciting, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that.”
Georgi will be taking on a range of roles – protecting GC contender Juliette Labous and leading out sprinter Charlotte Kool but, in between, there will hopefully be opportunities to target a stage win herself.
“When those things are sorted I have a bit of opportunity for a couple of the stages that I could go for a stage win, so that’s also nice,” Georgi added.