PFEIFFER GEORGI CAPTAIN MARVEL

Great Britain's 2023 national road champion Pfeiffer Georgi is one of the youngest road captains in the peloton. Here she explains this unique job and the pressures that go with it in the season's biggest race

- John Whitney

Just 23 years of age, Britain's Pfeiffer Georgi has quickly carved out an influential role in her sport, both as a contender in the one-day Spring Classics and as a lynchpin of her team, DSM-Firmenich PostNL. Twice a British National Champion on the road, this Gloucestershire native turned around her fortunes in the spring at her beloved Paris-Roubaix with a place on the podium. "I know it's not the win but for me it means a lot," she beamed on the finish line. That was followed up by 4th in Amstel Gold, losing out in a sprint to Marianne Vos. "I felt good the whole spring, but it wasn't going well [with results]." she tells Cycling Plus from her home in Andorra. "It just took that one result in Roubaix. Then in my eyes, it was a good spring."

We caught up with her in a season downtime between the Classics, in which she often shoulders team leadership and races for wins, and the summer stage races, where she assumes the road captain role, in support of Charlotte Kool in the sprints and Juliette Labous for the general classification. The captain job is primarily one of communication and decision-making- executing the plan of her sports directors on the road and making quick decisions when required. "I was introduced to the role towards the end of the season a couple of years ago in some of the races. That was a bit scary, a bit nerve-wracking, because I'm not naturally the one who speaks up. But I did it all last season, and have gained the experience of it."

Young guns