British National Road Championships return to Saltburn in 2024

This year’s British National Road Championships will take place in the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire, British Cycling has announced. 

The event, scheduled for 19-23 June, will mark the second year in a row that the championships are held in the region, with the road races starting and finishing in Saltburn, as they did in 2023.

This year’s edition, however, will bring a "modified version" of the route with "fewer climbs", British Cycling outlined in a press release. Fred Wright and Pfeiffer Georgi earned national honours on Saltburn Bank last year, climbing 4,073m and 2,826m respectively on their way to victory in the men’s and women’s elite races.

"To win my first elite national road title on Saltburn Bank was incredibly special and it has been such a privilege to wear the national jersey in the pro peloton," Wright said. "It meant a huge about to win last year and I can’t wait to head back to the seaside and battle it out against the best riders in the country with some amazing crowds."

The championships will open with the time trial events on 19 June in North Yorkshire. Darlington town centre will then host the circuit races on 21 June, following on from last year’s event less than 30 miles away in Redcar. 

The road races will take place on 23 June, with laps through Saltburn and out onto the rolling terrain of the Tees Valley. "We had such a good battle last year," said Georgi, who won from a seven-rider move. "I can’t wait to race in front of home crowds again and try and retain my jersey once again."

The event’s return to the Tees Valley comes as part of an effort to grow cycling in the northeastern region. 

Councillor Carrie Richardson, deputy leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said her borough is "absolutely committed" to staging cycling events. 

"[It] gives us the opportunity to boost tourism and showcase the area as a great place to come on holiday and cycle with some of the best coastal and country views in the nation," she said. "We’ve become a key area for major cycling events in the last few years and long may that continue."

The detailed routes for the events will be released in due course. It is unknown at this stage if the road races will finish once again on Saltburn Bank, with its 22% maximum gradient, or somewhere else in the seaside town.