2025 National Road Championships road race: report and results
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Samuel Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) took fabulous victories at the National Road Championships road race in Aberystwyth (Sunday 29 June)
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) belied her 21 years as she opened up a ferocious sprint to take a magnificent victory in the women’s National Road Championships road race in Aberystwyth, as she pipped 2024 champion Pfeiffer Georgi in a long, powerful sprint to the line along the mid-Wales seafront.
In the men’s race, Samuel Watson launched an audacious move on the final lap to take a stunning solo win for the Ineos Grenadiers, his pursuers powerless to respond.
Featured image: Olly Hassell/SWPix.com
Reports
Women’s race
A wet and rainy morning greeted the peloton in mid-Wales as the sunshine and hot weather was bathing the rest of the country managed to curve around the Aberystwyth coast.
The gloomy conditions were quickly lifted by the thrilling action out on the course as the Welsh countryside played host to early attacks as riders looked to test the legs of their rivals early doors.
mage: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
The first attack came from Lucy Glover (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team), Cecilia Hime (Brother UK – On Form) and Megan Anderson (Team Boompod). Glover then accelerated again, shaking Hime loose, but the break was short-lived. A larger move soon formed when April Tacey (Team Coop-Repsol), Madelaine Leech (Handsling Alba Development RT), Holly Ramsey (Hess Cycling Team), Jessica Roberts (Spectra Racing), Jo Tindley (Smurfit Westrock), Matilda McKibben (CJ O’Shea Racing) and Josie Knight (Tekkerz CC) jumped across and swept up the early attackers.
With their lead growing comfortable, aided by all of them willing to take turns on the front, there was not much chase by the peloton. Indeed, the only action from that large marauding bunch was Lotty Dawson (Brother UK – On Form) attacking solo, and then Becky Storrie (Team Picnic-PostNL) launching a solo move alone.
For a brief time, they joined together, but Storrie was determined and ended up dropping Dawson and going it alone. It took a full lap of the large loops that made up the crooked figure of eight circuit, but Storrie managed to join a front group that had lost Hime and Glover as the race wound on.
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
The leaders’ advantage exceeded five minutes at one point, but as the peloton began to lift the pace it started to fall. Sensing the change, Anna Morris, riding as a private member, attacked and made her way across to the break.
Calm lasted only briefly. As the race moved onto the shorter finishing circuits closer to Aberystwyth, Storrie attacked again with Roberts, and the escape fragmented.
Indeed, as Storrie and Roberts broke clear, the action was coming from the peloton behind as Couzens – helped enormously by the valiant work of teammate Flora Perkins – rocketed off the front of the peloton. Opening a gap relatively quickly, it was only the effort of Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) and the Team Picnic-PostNL duo of Pfeiffer Georgi and Josie Nelson that brought Couzens back into some company, with Nelson driving the initial pace to help establish the quartet’s lead.
With the quartet working well, Storrie and Roberts’ time at the front was short-lived. Taking the bell with a 13-second advantage, it was only a couple of minutes later that they were caught by the four. Storrie was glad for the company of her violet-and-orange clad compatriots, but for Roberts the increase in pace proved too much to handle and she started to drop back.
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
The chase group behind, featuring riders like Cat Ferguson (Movistar), Imogen Wolff (Team Visma–Lease a Bike) and Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto), never truly organised. Each appeared to be watching the others, and a fast descent into town further fractured the group’s momentum.
Up front, the four leaders continued to drive the pace. Although Nelson signalled she couldn’t contribute on the climb itself, she resumed turns once over the top, helping maintain the move’s cohesion. Their gap ballooned to 1 minute 14 seconds at its peak, making it clear that the medals would be decided among them.
As they manouevred through the flamme rouge, it was all to play for.
Making the final left turn with 500 metres to go, it was Couzens who blinked first and unleashed a scorching sprint. From inside on the right, she burst clear and with Georgi slightly slowed as she out-muscled Henderson, it was the Fenix-Deceuninck rider who had just enough speed to cross the line first, Georgi taking second, Henderson third and Nelson two seconds back in fourth.
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Lauren Dickson surged clear of the chasers for fifth, while Bäckstedt out-kicked Ferguson and Eilidh Shaw (UAE Development Team) to win the bunch sprint.
Couzens pockets both the elite and under-23 titles, with Bäckstedt and Ferguson joining her on the U23 podium.
17th place for Thomson was enough for her to defend her Rapha Super-League lead, although Richardson and Dickson are close behind ahead of the next round in Otley.
Men’s race
The opening of the men’s race was almost a carbon copy of the women’s event. A few squalls swept in off the Welsh coast, quashing any talk of a looming heat-wave in the rest of the country.
Will Roberts (Dolan Factory Racing) had the honour of the day’s first dig. He was swiftly reeled in, but his move sparked a lively counter-attack: Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic-PostNL), Tom Gloag (Team Visma–Lease a Bike), Jack Rootkin-Gray (EF Education-EasyPost), Joshua Golliker (EF Education–Aevolo) and Callum Thornley (Red Bull–BORA-hansgrohe Rookies) forged clear and, 15 minutes in, held about 15 seconds.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Their number swelled when Jack Brough (AVC Aix-en-Provence) and Alistair Gardner (CC Étupes) bridged with ease. The enlarged break, however, never truly settled. First Bob Donaldson (Private Member) and then Joe Blackmore (Israel–Premier Tech) lit up the peloton; Blackmore’s successful bridge extinguished the move altogether.
A string of short-lived sorties followed – most notably from Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost) – but the bunch kept every chancer on a tight leash. Even as attacks fizzled out, the tempo remained brutal.
Mid-race chaos struck when a sizeable crash two-thirds back in the bunch blocked the road, delaying a sizeable portion of the bunch, including the likes of Sebastian Grindley (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) and Matthew Holmes (One Good Thing–Factor Racing). The race remained unneutralised, however, leaving a much-reduced peloton to battle for honours.
Almost simultaneously, Tom Portsmouth (Wagner Bazin WB) tried his luck off the front, only to be retrieved while the leaders hesitated, unsure whether to throttle back or press on.
With that confusion, a few opportunistic moves went off with Matt Bostock (Tekkerz CC) giving it a quick go but not fully committing to it with no one really knowing what was happening.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
After that, it was hard to keep track of what was going on, such was the speed and ferocity of the attacks going up the road. Notably, Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) was starting to power toward the front and Portsmouth was keeping his fluro kit right at the front but there were no breaks that lasted any length of time before they were being reeled back in.
Heading towards the start of the final lap to go, there was an intriguing move as Joshua Golliker (EF Education – Aevolo) attacked off the front, and was joined swiftly after by Team Visma-Lease a Bike Development’s Tomos Pattinson, and they stretched out a lead of 20 or so seconds.
Add in Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) and the 14sec advantage was looking pretty good. There was a counter attack, with Lewis Askey (GROUPAMA-FDJ), Oliver Knight (Cofidis), Matthew Brennan (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic-PostNL), Blackmore and Thornley powering across and joining an energetic front group.
At this point, it seemed as though the front group was essentially bulking itself up to how it used to be some kilometres earlier with riders coming over in fits and starts. Another four bridging across included Alex Beldon (MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK), Harrison Wood (Sabgal – Anicolor), Jake Stewart (Israel – Premier Tech) and Doull.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
The race was now on the 12.4 km finishing loops. The leaders carried 25 seconds on a chase featuring Hayter, Ethan Vernon (Israel–Premier Tech), Mattie Dodd (Tirol KTM Cycling Team), Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost) and Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT). With the finish in sight, the mantra became simple: attack, see what sticks.
Askey tried first but was reeled in on the circuit’s climb just as the chasers latched on. With four laps to run, Bush, Knight, Doull and the irrepressible Thornley carved out 15 seconds, helped by team-mates sitting on behind. Their gap nudged 30 seconds but the 11-strong chase stumbled, each rider eyeing Israel–Premier Tech (three men strong) and Visma (two) to shoulder the work.
Brennan launched two attacks – the second alongside Askey and Beldon – but it never particularly lasted. Even with Blackmore and Stewart taking turns at the front, it just didn’t seem to work as everyone looked to Israel Premier Tech, with three riders, and Team Visma-Lease a Bike with two representatives (if you include Pattinson in the devo squad) to do the bulk of the work.
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Disaster struck Knight on the descent when a jolt twisted his chain; after moto service, he slipped behind the chasers.
Two laps remaining and the gap grew to 35sec. With a lack of purpose in the chase, riders started to get impatient and started to force the pace to try and get someone to do something to cut into the deficit to the riders ahead.
That seemed to work a treat, and on the penultimate tour the chasing group of seven – Sean Flynn (Team Picnic-PostNL) and Golliker dropping out – made the catch a few kilometres before they took the bell. That brought in a grateful Knight, Beldon and Stewart to bulk the group back up to 13.
But the drama wasn’t finished as Watson attacked across the line and through the twisty harbour section he broke clear to gain himself half-a-dozen seconds.
On the climb, it grew to 24sec and his audacious move looked to have legs – especially when an attempt to attack by Bush and Brennan fizzled out before it even properly started.
Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Watson descended cleanly, threaded the streets unfazed and had time to glance back in disbelief before sitting up to savour victory, 29 seconds clear.
Behind, Brennan won the sprint for second – sealing the under-23 title – with Vernon third. Thornley, ever-present at the front, took the U23 silver, while Beldon completed that podium.
Beldon’s 8th place – an outstanding result for a club rider – moves him to the top of the Rapha Super-League standings.
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) belied her 21 years as she opened up a ferocious sprint to take a magnificent victory in the women’s National Road Championships road race in Aberystwyth, as she pipped 2024 champion Pfeiffer Georgi in a long, powerful sprint to the line along the mid-Wales seafront.
In the men’s race, Samuel Watson launched an audacious move on the final lap to take a stunning solo win for the Ineos Grenadiers, his pursuers powerless to respond.
Featured image: Olly Hassell/SWPix.com
Reports
Women’s race
A wet and rainy morning greeted the peloton in mid-Wales as the sunshine and hot weather was bathing the rest of the country managed to curve around the Aberystwyth coast.
The gloomy conditions were quickly lifted by the thrilling action out on the course as the Welsh countryside played host to early attacks as riders looked to test the legs of their rivals early doors.
The first attack came from Lucy Glover (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team), Cecilia Hime (Brother UK – On Form) and Megan Anderson (Team Boompod). Glover then accelerated again, shaking Hime loose, but the break was short-lived. A larger move soon formed when April Tacey (Team Coop-Repsol), Madelaine Leech (Handsling Alba Development RT), Holly Ramsey (Hess Cycling Team), Jessica Roberts (Spectra Racing), Jo Tindley (Smurfit Westrock), Matilda McKibben (CJ O’Shea Racing) and Josie Knight (Tekkerz CC) jumped across and swept up the early attackers.
With their lead growing comfortable, aided by all of them willing to take turns on the front, there was not much chase by the peloton. Indeed, the only action from that large marauding bunch was Lotty Dawson (Brother UK – On Form) attacking solo, and then Becky Storrie (Team Picnic-PostNL) launching a solo move alone.
For a brief time, they joined together, but Storrie was determined and ended up dropping Dawson and going it alone. It took a full lap of the large loops that made up the crooked figure of eight circuit, but Storrie managed to join a front group that had lost Hime and Glover as the race wound on.
The leaders’ advantage exceeded five minutes at one point, but as the peloton began to lift the pace it started to fall. Sensing the change, Anna Morris, riding as a private member, attacked and made her way across to the break.
Calm lasted only briefly. As the race moved onto the shorter finishing circuits closer to Aberystwyth, Storrie attacked again with Roberts, and the escape fragmented.
Indeed, as Storrie and Roberts broke clear, the action was coming from the peloton behind as Couzens – helped enormously by the valiant work of teammate Flora Perkins – rocketed off the front of the peloton. Opening a gap relatively quickly, it was only the effort of Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) and the Team Picnic-PostNL duo of Pfeiffer Georgi and Josie Nelson that brought Couzens back into some company, with Nelson driving the initial pace to help establish the quartet’s lead.
With the quartet working well, Storrie and Roberts’ time at the front was short-lived. Taking the bell with a 13-second advantage, it was only a couple of minutes later that they were caught by the four. Storrie was glad for the company of her violet-and-orange clad compatriots, but for Roberts the increase in pace proved too much to handle and she started to drop back.
The chase group behind, featuring riders like Cat Ferguson (Movistar), Imogen Wolff (Team Visma–Lease a Bike) and Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto), never truly organised. Each appeared to be watching the others, and a fast descent into town further fractured the group’s momentum.
Up front, the four leaders continued to drive the pace. Although Nelson signalled she couldn’t contribute on the climb itself, she resumed turns once over the top, helping maintain the move’s cohesion. Their gap ballooned to 1 minute 14 seconds at its peak, making it clear that the medals would be decided among them.
As they manouevred through the flamme rouge, it was all to play for.
Making the final left turn with 500 metres to go, it was Couzens who blinked first and unleashed a scorching sprint. From inside on the right, she burst clear and with Georgi slightly slowed as she out-muscled Henderson, it was the Fenix-Deceuninck rider who had just enough speed to cross the line first, Georgi taking second, Henderson third and Nelson two seconds back in fourth.
Lauren Dickson surged clear of the chasers for fifth, while Bäckstedt out-kicked Ferguson and Eilidh Shaw (UAE Development Team) to win the bunch sprint.
Couzens pockets both the elite and under-23 titles, with Bäckstedt and Ferguson joining her on the U23 podium.
17th place for Thomson was enough for her to defend her Rapha Super-League lead, although Richardson and Dickson are close behind ahead of the next round in Otley.
Men’s race
The opening of the men’s race was almost a carbon copy of the women’s event. A few squalls swept in off the Welsh coast, quashing any talk of a looming heat-wave in the rest of the country.
Will Roberts (Dolan Factory Racing) had the honour of the day’s first dig. He was swiftly reeled in, but his move sparked a lively counter-attack: Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic-PostNL), Tom Gloag (Team Visma–Lease a Bike), Jack Rootkin-Gray (EF Education-EasyPost), Joshua Golliker (EF Education–Aevolo) and Callum Thornley (Red Bull–BORA-hansgrohe Rookies) forged clear and, 15 minutes in, held about 15 seconds.
Their number swelled when Jack Brough (AVC Aix-en-Provence) and Alistair Gardner (CC Étupes) bridged with ease. The enlarged break, however, never truly settled. First Bob Donaldson (Private Member) and then Joe Blackmore (Israel–Premier Tech) lit up the peloton; Blackmore’s successful bridge extinguished the move altogether.
A string of short-lived sorties followed – most notably from Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost) – but the bunch kept every chancer on a tight leash. Even as attacks fizzled out, the tempo remained brutal.
Mid-race chaos struck when a sizeable crash two-thirds back in the bunch blocked the road, delaying a sizeable portion of the bunch, including the likes of Sebastian Grindley (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) and Matthew Holmes (One Good Thing–Factor Racing). The race remained unneutralised, however, leaving a much-reduced peloton to battle for honours.
Almost simultaneously, Tom Portsmouth (Wagner Bazin WB) tried his luck off the front, only to be retrieved while the leaders hesitated, unsure whether to throttle back or press on.
With that confusion, a few opportunistic moves went off with Matt Bostock (Tekkerz CC) giving it a quick go but not fully committing to it with no one really knowing what was happening.
After that, it was hard to keep track of what was going on, such was the speed and ferocity of the attacks going up the road. Notably, Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) was starting to power toward the front and Portsmouth was keeping his fluro kit right at the front but there were no breaks that lasted any length of time before they were being reeled back in.
Heading towards the start of the final lap to go, there was an intriguing move as Joshua Golliker (EF Education – Aevolo) attacked off the front, and was joined swiftly after by Team Visma-Lease a Bike Development’s Tomos Pattinson, and they stretched out a lead of 20 or so seconds.
Add in Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) and the 14sec advantage was looking pretty good. There was a counter attack, with Lewis Askey (GROUPAMA-FDJ), Oliver Knight (Cofidis), Matthew Brennan (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic-PostNL), Blackmore and Thornley powering across and joining an energetic front group.
At this point, it seemed as though the front group was essentially bulking itself up to how it used to be some kilometres earlier with riders coming over in fits and starts. Another four bridging across included Alex Beldon (MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK), Harrison Wood (Sabgal – Anicolor), Jake Stewart (Israel – Premier Tech) and Doull.
The race was now on the 12.4 km finishing loops. The leaders carried 25 seconds on a chase featuring Hayter, Ethan Vernon (Israel–Premier Tech), Mattie Dodd (Tirol KTM Cycling Team), Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost) and Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT). With the finish in sight, the mantra became simple: attack, see what sticks.
Askey tried first but was reeled in on the circuit’s climb just as the chasers latched on. With four laps to run, Bush, Knight, Doull and the irrepressible Thornley carved out 15 seconds, helped by team-mates sitting on behind. Their gap nudged 30 seconds but the 11-strong chase stumbled, each rider eyeing Israel–Premier Tech (three men strong) and Visma (two) to shoulder the work.
Brennan launched two attacks – the second alongside Askey and Beldon – but it never particularly lasted. Even with Blackmore and Stewart taking turns at the front, it just didn’t seem to work as everyone looked to Israel Premier Tech, with three riders, and Team Visma-Lease a Bike with two representatives (if you include Pattinson in the devo squad) to do the bulk of the work.
Disaster struck Knight on the descent when a jolt twisted his chain; after moto service, he slipped behind the chasers.
Two laps remaining and the gap grew to 35sec. With a lack of purpose in the chase, riders started to get impatient and started to force the pace to try and get someone to do something to cut into the deficit to the riders ahead.
That seemed to work a treat, and on the penultimate tour the chasing group of seven – Sean Flynn (Team Picnic-PostNL) and Golliker dropping out – made the catch a few kilometres before they took the bell. That brought in a grateful Knight, Beldon and Stewart to bulk the group back up to 13.
But the drama wasn’t finished as Watson attacked across the line and through the twisty harbour section he broke clear to gain himself half-a-dozen seconds.
On the climb, it grew to 24sec and his audacious move looked to have legs – especially when an attempt to attack by Bush and Brennan fizzled out before it even properly started.
Watson descended cleanly, threaded the streets unfazed and had time to glance back in disbelief before sitting up to savour victory, 29 seconds clear.
Behind, Brennan won the sprint for second – sealing the under-23 title – with Vernon third. Thornley, ever-present at the front, took the U23 silver, while Beldon completed that podium.
Beldon’s 8th place – an outstanding result for a club rider – moves him to the top of the Rapha Super-League standings.
Results
Women’s race
Men’s race
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