Pfeiffer Georgi ready for pivotal role in Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s Tour ambitions

Words by Daniel Benson

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL head into the Tour de France Femmes with a stacked team and ambitions to win sprint stages and contend for the yellow jersey.

Charlotte Kool will lead the line when the race kicks off in the Netherlands on Monday, August 12th and is determined to win the opening sprint stage on home roads, while Juliette Labous will aim to come to the fore in the second half of the race as the battle for the general classification intensifies.

Pivotal towards both aims is British national road champion Pfeiffer Georgi, who is set to race her third straight Femmes. The 23-year-old will take her place in Kool’s dedicated lead-out, and then turn her attention towards supporting Labous in the hilly and mountain stages. If that wasn’t enough, Georgi hopes to have her chance to grab success on the hilly stage five between Bastogne and Amnéville.

Before stage five, comes the opening three stages in the Netherlands, home of the team’s newest co-title sponsor, PostNL. The squad are determined to take the opening sprint stage and pull on the first maillot jaune of this year’s race.

“For the team, having three stages in Holland, it’s a really big goal, especially with Charlotte for the sprints. In the second half of the race, we’ll be more focused towards Juliette and the GC. I’m really excited to be heading to the race, and it’s a really great course this year. My role is to be part of those lead-outs and then help Juliette. We were already a Dutch team, but with PostNL coming on board, and with them being a massive Dutch partner, that adds to everything. There’s a bit more pressure to perform but we’re all looking forward to it,” Georgi said just before boarding a flight to the Netherlands on Saturday morning.

The British star also hinted that she and the rest of the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL squad wouldn’t wait until the mountain stage to try and take time on their GC rivals, suggesting that they could look for opportunities in the first six stages in which to put other squads on the backfoot. Given there could be crosswinds in the first three stages, and stage four could end in a highly selective manner, Georgi’s comments indicate that the team will not take a passive approach.

“We want to gain time throughout the week whenever we can. I want to support Juliette as much as possible on those hilly and mountain stages but for us as a team, we can try and look to every day when it comes to trying to gain time, and that could be a key to getting Juliette on the podium,” Georgi said.

First up are the sprint stages and the team’s lead-out has stepped up to the next level in recent weeks with Kool taking her first victory of the season on stage two of the Baloise Ladies Tour. This year Georgi’s position in the lead-outs has changed slightly, with the British rider moving back one place behind new recruit, Rachele Barbieri. The updated line-up has taken time to find its harmony but Georgi is confident that the best performances will be on display at the Tour next week.

“Over the last few years, we’ve had a bit of a different combination in terms of the lead-outs,”  Georgi said.

“Last year I was the last rider for Charlotte and that’s not where my physicality is. A longer effort suits me better so I’m back to being the second last rider and Rachele has come in to be that last rider for Charlotte, and she’s got real explosive power. At the start of the year, we didn’t have all three of us at the UAE Tour because of sickness but since then we’ve just tried to fine-tune it, and I think we’ve got to know each other well in terms of communication. I’m excited to see what we can do together over the next week,” she added.

Overall, Georgi is looking forward to an aggressive race in which she can demonstrate her all-round skills. This will be her third straight start in the Tour de France Femmes, and she has two years of vital experience to fall back on ahead of Monday’s Grand Départ in Rotterdam.

“Both years I’ve done the race I’ve found it really challenging. Hopefully, I’m in a better place this year. I remember the first time I did the race in 2022, and the race started in Paris. It was a crazy experience. For us, it was the first time we’d had such a high-profile event, with all the fans and the schools coming outside to watch us. You could feel it was so special and that means there’s so much on the line every day now, with every jersey. Everyone is going to be fighting so hard,” she said.

On a personal level, Georgi is looking to show off her national champion’s jersey, fight for victory on stage five, and continue her recent form that saw her take a highly impressive fifth in the road race at the Paris Olympic Games. One of her best-ever results came on French roads this year when she took third in Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and if she can reach that level again at the Tour then Georgi is sure to be in the mix as both a stage-hunting favourite and a super domestique.

“The start of the season wasn’t what I hoped for, I didn’t have the result to show for it but from Roubaix – which was a real highlight of my season – and then with nationals, and the Olympics just now, I’m feeling really good at the moment. It all bodes well for the Tour,” she said just before taking off for the Netherlands.