The world’s top international teams will race Britain’s latest generation of stars in this weekend’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on Sunday 10 August, part of the Mayor of London’s multi-award winning festival of cycling. <click here to view list>
The likes of 2012 world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) and Tour de France top 10 finisher Laurens ten Dam (Belkin Pro Cycling) will line up against Scott Thwaites, bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games, Tour de France star Simon Yates (Orica GreenEDGE) and a return to racing in the UK for former British champion Ian Stannard (Team Sky), who has been out injured for much of this season .
Gilbert leads the BMC Racing team in the 200-kilometre race which begins at 13:00 in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Team Sky’s line-up will include British trio Ben Swift, Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe, plus Australian sprinter Chris Sutton who was their leading rider in the 2013 event.
British brothers Simon and Adam Yates lead the Orica GreenEDGE team, which also includes rising sprint star Caleb Ewan.
The 20-year-old Ewan is one of several sprinters in the 150-rider field that includes Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Sam Bennett (Team NetApp-Endura) while Omega Pharma-Quick-Step’s line-up contains a trio of fast men in Mark Renshaw and multiple Tour de France stage winners Alessandro Petacchi and Gert Steegmans.
Andrew Fenn provides home interest to the Omega Pharma-Quick-Step line-up, a week after representing Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, while Belkin Pro Cycling will include two top 15 finishers from the recent Tour de France, in Laurens ten Dam (9th overall) and Steven Kruijswijk (15th overall).
A host of medallists from the road and track events at the Commonwealth Games will join them, led by road race bronze medallist Scott Thwaites (Team NetApp-Endura), who leads five from the top 10 from Glasgow to the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic.
The gold and bronze medallists from the points race, Kiwi duo Tom Scully (Madison Genesis) and Aaron Gate (AN Post Chain Reaction) and the scratch race gold medallist Shane Archbold (AN Post Chain Reaction), who also took bronze in the team pursuit, will also start.
Gilbert’s BMC Racing also boasts a Commonwealth gold medallist in Luke Davison, who rides as a stagiaire for the team, who was a member of the Australian team pursuit quartet that defeated the England team of Sir Bradley Wiggins in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.
Domestically, Pearl Izumi Tour Series champions Rapha Condor JLT includes former Tour of Britain SKODA King of the Mountains winner Kristian House plus Team England’s Tom Moses, while Raleigh will bring current British Cycling Elite Road Series leader Yanto Barker.NFTO Pro Cycling, the leading squad in that competition, boastS both Adam Blythe and Russell Downing, the latter fourth at the Commonwealth Games.
A youthful Great Britain national team includes Dan McLay, winner of a stage and the Points Classification at the Tour of Normandy earlier this summer, while Irish interest will look to a brace of champions in former national champion Matt Brammeier with the Synergy Baku Cycling Project team and Ryan Mullen of AN Post Chain Reaction, current incumbent for both the road race and time trial.
The race will be covered live on BBC1 and British Eurosport and shown internationally in more than 160 countries worldwide.
As the most anticipated event of the Prudential RideLondon weekend, Londoners, visitors to the capital and Surrey residents are expected to turn out in force to see 150 of the world’s top men race over an extended, tougher route in this 1.HC status UCI classified race (the second-highest international classification). The event will bring the weekend to a thrilling conclusion.
Held for the first time in 2013, Prudential RideLondon immediately set new records as it became the largest inaugural mass-participation event in the world with 66,000+ participants and raised more than £7 million for charity, making it the largest charity cycling event in the UK. An unprecedented 99 per cent of participants rated the event good or excellent and the festival has won seven national awards.
In order to safely facilitate this world-class event, road and bridge closures will be in place across the weekend. On Saturday 9 August road closures will primarily be in central London. On Sunday 10 August, large numbers of road and bridge closures across east, central and south west London and Surrey will be in place. Drivers are advised where possible to change their route to avoid disruption. Tube, rail, walking and cycling will be the best ways to get around the capital and to enjoy the weekend. For more information visit tfl.gov.uk/prudentialridelondon and www.PrudentialRideLondon.co.uk.