Former British champion Pfeiffer Georgi ends 8-year Picnic-PostNL spell to join UAE Team L'IMAD

Former triple British champion Pfeiffer Georgi will leave Picnic-PostNL at the end of the year, moving to UAE Team L’IMAD on a three-year deal.

Only 25 years old, Georgi has been with Picnic since turning professional in 2019 and will provide UAE with leadership skills and a tactical nous beyond her years.

Not only is she an accomplished lead-out rider; she also excels as a road captain and rides well in the Spring Classics, a part of the season where UAE are yet to reach the heights.

"I have been in the same team for my eight years as a professional and am excited to enter a new environment at this point in my career," Georgi said in a statement on the team’s website. "I have gained a lot of experience and I am now looking to develop further as a rider.

"I love the Classics and think the nature of them, with short, punchy climbs, cobbles and bad weather, suits me well. I definitely have a passion for one-day races and my favourite race is Paris-Roubaix."

Team President, Melissa Moncada added her thoughts. "Pfeiffer is a rider we have followed with great interest and who has already demonstrated her quality at the highest level, particularly in the Classics. She is still young, but she has accumulated important experience and has shown that she has the strength, character and talent to compete for the biggest victories."

Since morphing from Alé-BTC Ljubljana in 2022, the UAE team have been building steadily. The arrival of Elisa Longo Borghini in 2025 was a pivotal moment, their win rate more than doubling.

Georgi is the second signing to be announced so far, with American Lily Williams revealed recently.

Analysis

An asset to any team

Owen Rogers

Pfeiffer Georgi’s transfer to UAE can only be a good move for both rider and team. Strong both mentally and physically, she is an asset to any team she joins, influencing and leading other riders and able to provide a well timed lead-out, something their sprinter, Lara Gillespie, will benefit from. She’s also a classy Classics rider with a decent kick.

Her total of seven wins, including three British road titles, seems like a meagre return for a woman of her obvious talents, though there are a couple of reasons for this.

With four victories, 2023 was her best season, and she began the following year with third place at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, but just after winning a third British road title she suffered a broken wrist and fractured vertebra in a horror crash during stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Then, just as she was returning to her best, she broke her wrist at the SIMAC Ladies Tour at the end of last season.

The other reason must surely be her current team. Since losing Lorena Wiebes to SD Worx-Protime in 2023, Picnic-PostNL have been fading. The loss of Wiebes has taken them from 28 wins in 2022, through 19 the following year when Charlotte Kool was bagging wins in the sprints, to just eight in 2024, four last year and none so far this campaign.

Georgi is a classy rider and should benefit from a new environment in which to develop further.

Though her loss will be felt keenly at Picnic, UAE will be blessed by her abilities in hard Classics like Paris-Roubaix and her instinctive tactical and leadership skills.

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