Georgia Taylor-Brown, the most decorated female triathlete in Olympic terms, returns to one of her favourite Supertri venues this weekend on the back of a brilliant second place at the British Gravel Championships where she animated the race with an incredible solo break.
GTB has been trying out plenty of new challenges in what she’s called a “gap year” in between Olympic cycles.
And the latest of those came in wet and chilly conditions in the Women’s Elite race in Dalby Forest in Yorkshire.
Out on her own
Taylor-Brown, not racing for a trade team, wasted no time asserting herself in the race, powering clear in the first of four 30km laps to establish a 90-second lead, which ballooned to over three minutes by halfway.
A determined chase group of Abi Smith (Team Picnic PostNL), Sophie Wright (Ribble Outliers) and Elizabeth Hermolle (DAS Hutchinson) fought valiantly, but Taylor-Brown appeared untouchable heading into the final lap.
Yet as the race reached its closing stages, Hermolle delivered a masterclass in pacing and grit. Eating into the lead over the rolling Dalby terrain, she halved the deficit and then pressed on as Taylor-Brown began to fade in the freezing conditions.
With just 3km remaining, Hermolle surged past the Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal holder, powering away to claim a career-defining victory, with GTB just 37 seconds behind.
You can watch the race in full via the video embed below (it starts at around 5:27).
‘Now it’s back to some triathlon’
And posting on her Instagram page, Georgia – being a bit harsh on herself – said: “British Gravel Champs; How not to win a race 🙃
“Tactically, I’m stupid but that’s just me! I like to go hard from the gun & see what happens! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t haha!
“I really did enjoy my solo 90km at British Gravel Champs though! It wasn’t planned but I found myself alone and just tapped away, until I got sooooo cold with a lap to go & it then just became survival 🥶
“Caught with 3km to go by the much smarter British Champ haha 👏🏻
“Now it’s back to some triathlon x”
That triathlon is Supertri Jersey where she will look to go one better than her second place in the last Supertri race in Chicago.
Since then she has notched a win too – in the Lindahls Pro+ Triathlon Series in France.
Meanwhile in the Men’s Elite Race at Dalby Forest, triathlon legends Alistair and Jonny Brownlee were 15th and 18th respectively behind INEOS Grenadiers pro rider Connor Swift.
Chatting to us earlier this week, Jonny said it “was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life on my bike!”
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