London–Surrey Classic

The London–Surrey Classic (also known as the RideLondon–Surrey Classic) is an annual 193 km (119.9 mi) men's professional one-day road bicycle racing starting and finishing in London and routed via the picturesque Surrey Hills. The first race of its kind was the London–Surrey Cycle Classic, on 14 August 2011, a 1.2 classification[1] 140 km preparatory event for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was won by sprinter Mark Cavendish. The men's and women's Olympic road races were held on a longer variation of the same course the following year. On 4 August 2013, the race found a permanent home as part of the Prudential RideLondon weekend, a two-day cycling festival held in London, a legacy event of the Olympics.

RideLondon–Surrey Classic
Race details
DateAugust
RegionGreat Britain
DisciplineRoad
CompetitionUCI World Tour (Cat 1.HC)
TypeOne-day
OrganiserLondon & Surrey Cycling Partnership (LSCP)
Web sitewww.prudentialridelondon.co.uk
History
First edition2011 (2011)
Editions8 (as of 2019)
First winner Mark Cavendish (GBR)
Most recent Elia Viviani (ITA)

The Prudential RideLondon–Surrey Classic is part of the UCI World Tour and, as of 2017, is classified as a UCI World Tour category event.[2] [3] [4] [5]

History

Origins

London-Surrey Cycle Classic
Main article: London–Surrey Cycle Classic

A part of the London Prepares series a one-off one-day 140 km (87.0 mi) cycle race was organised for 14 August 2011 acting as a test event for the Olympic Road Cycling events to be held the following year. The race was named the London-Surrey Cycle Classic and was part of the 2010–11 UCI Europe Tour as a 1.2 category event.[6]

The race started and finished on The Mall in London and featured two laps of a 15.5 km (9.6 mi) circuit centred on Box Hill in Surrey.[7] 138 riders from 19 national teams and 10 trade teams took part in the race, and was won by Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.[8]

2012 Summer Olympics
The peloton of the Men's Olympic Road Race in Southwest London.
The peloton of the Women's Olympic Road Race in Southwest London.

The 2012 Summer Olympics held road cycling races for both men and women on a largely similar course to that of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic held the previous year.

RideLondon–Surrey Classic

The RideLondon weekend, including the RideLondon–Surrey Classic, was announced by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson on 10 August 2012, less than two weeks after the Olympic Road Cycling races.[9] RideLondon is managed by the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership, a joint venture between the organisers of the London Marathon and The Tour of Britain.

The inaugural RideLondon–Surrey Classic was run as a 1.1 category event on the 2013 UCI Europe Tour. The UCI upgraded the classification for the 2014 race which was run as a 1.HC category event on the 2014 UCI Europe Tour; the same classification as Paris–Tours and Milano–Torino.[10]

UCI World Tour status

The RideLondon event director, Hugh Brasher, stated his ambitions to attain UCI World Tour status for the RideLondon–Surrey Classic by 2016.[11] This was backed up by positive rider reaction following the inaugural race, including from Arnaud Démare's teammate Dominique Rollin.[12] In March 2016 the race organisation applied for WorldTour status from the 2017 event[13] and in August 2016 the UCI confirmed that the race would be promoted to the WorldTour from 2017.[14]

Route
The profile of the 2013 Prudential RideLondon–Surrey Classic
The profile of the 2014 Prudential RideLondon–Surrey Classic

The RideLondon–Surrey Classic route is a variation of the course used for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[15] The route features both categorised climbs and intermediate sprint points.

Riders start from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park close to the Olympic Velodrome before passing close to Canary Wharf and the Tower of London on the way through central London. Leaving London by the A4 the route passes through Richmond Park, Kingston upon Thames and Hampton Court Palace. In Surrey the route passes through Weybridge and Ripley on the way to the first of the categorised climbs and the leafy villages of the Surrey Hills.

Multiple laps of hilly terrain in the vicinity of Dorking incorporate further categorised climbs, including Leith Hill - the highest point in South-East England. On the return to London the route takes in the final categorised climb of Box Hill before the largely flat run-in via Oxshott, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon and Putney. The final kilometres follow the Embankment, past the Palace of Westminster, along Whitehall and turning left through Admiralty Arch before the finish on The Mall.

Sprints classification

Intermediate Sprints count towards the sprints classification; the points distribution for this classification is as follows:

Sprint1st2nd3rd4th
Intermediate Sprint5321

Note that points are not awarded at the finish line.

King of the Mountains classification

Categorised climbs count towards the King of the Mountains classification; the points distribution for this classification is as follows:

Category1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
Cat 110987654321
Cat 2654321
Cat 34321

The categorised climbs that have featured in the RideLondon–Surrey Classic include:

ClimbEditionsCategoryLengthAscentAverage gradeMax. grade
Box Hill[16]2013-2014Cat 22.5 km (1.6 mi)123 m (404 ft)4.9%10.9%
Coldharbour[17]2014Cat 21.8 km (1.1 mi)130 m (427 ft)7.2%14.2%
Denbies Wine Estate[18]2014Cat 22.5 km (1.6 mi)137 m (449 ft)5.5%13.1%
Newlands Corner[19]2013Cat 31.8 km (1.1 mi)84 m (276 ft)4.7%9.6%
Staple Lane[20]2014Cat 21.4 km (0.9 mi)82 m (269 ft)5.9%9.9%
Leith Hill[21]2013Cat 22.1 km (1.3 mi)139 m (456 ft)6.6%11.8%

Winners

Overall winners
Year Country Rider Team
2011  Great Britain Mark Cavendish Great Britain national team
2012 No race (see 2012 Olympic road race)
2013  France Arnaud Démare FDJ.fr
2014  Great Britain Adam Blythe NFTO
2015  Luxembourg Jempy Drucker BMC Racing Team
2016  Belgium Tom Boonen Etixx–Quick-Step
2017  Norway Alexander Kristoff Team Katusha–Alpecin
2018  Germany Pascal Ackermann Bora–Hansgrohe
2019  Italy Elia Viviani Deceuninck–Quick-Step

Overall winners by nationality
# of victories Country
2  United Kingdom
1  France
1  Luxembourg
1  Belgium
1  Norway
1  Germany
1  Italy

Sprints classification winners
Year Country Rider Team
2013  Netherlands Ramon Sinkeldam Argos–Shimano
2014  Netherlands Steven Lammertink Giant–Shimano
2015  Great Britain Peter Williams ONE Pro Cycling
2016  Spain Jonathan Lastra Caja Rural–Seguros RGA
2017  Italy Matteo Trentin Quick-Step Floors
2018  Italy Manuele Boaro Bahrain–Merida

King of the Mountains classification winners
Year Country Rider Team
2013  Netherlands Ramon Sinkeldam Argos–Shimano
2014  Great Britain Steve Lampier Velosure–Giordana
2015  Great Britain Erick Rowsell Madison Genesis
2016  Luxembourg Jempy Drucker BMC Racing Team
2017  Denmark Mads Würtz Schmidt Team Katusha–Alpecin
2018  France Alexis Gougeard AG2R La Mondiale
2019  Great Britain Alex Dowsett Team Katusha–Alpecin

Records
  • The fastest RideLondon–Surrey Classic was in 2017, by Alexander Kristoff at a speed of 45.39 km/h (28.20 mph).
  • The highest number of finishers was in 2013 - 131 out of 147 starters completed the course within the time limit.

Future

Surrey County Council has agreed to support the RideLondon events until 2018, with an option of a further two-year extension.[22]

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References
  1. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/london-surrey-cycle-classic-1-2/results
  2. http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/ridelondon-surrey-classic-2017-great-13180350
  3. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/other-sports/ridelondonsurrey-classic-set-for-stellar-field-as-88000-race-gets-world-tour-status-a3564111.html
  4. https://roadcyclinguk.com/racing/ridelondon-surrey-classic-joins-uci-worldtour-calendar-2017.html
  5. http://www.uci.ch/road/calendar/
  6. "UCI Road Calendar — 2010-2011 Europe Tour". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  7. Will Irwin and Andy McGrath (12 August 2011). "London – Surrey Cycle Classic the big preview". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  8. Andy McGrath & Nigel Wynn (14 August 2011). "Cavendish wins London–Surrey Cycle Classic". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  9. "Mayor announces world class RideLondon event to take forward capital's Olympic legacy". Mayor of London. 10 August 2012.
  10. "2014 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic awarded hors catégorie status". Cycling Weekly. 27 September 2013.
  11. "A thrilling showpiece for British cycling". The Telegraph. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  12. "Rollin tips RideLondon–Surrey Classic for WorldTour". Cycling News. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  13. Clarke, Stuart. "RideLondon-Surrey Classic one of 21 races to apply for WorldTour status". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  14. Wynn, Nigel. "RideLondon moves up to WorldTour status as UCI reveals 2017 race calendar". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  15. "Britain gets set to host its biggest ever one-day race". Prudential RideLondon. 6 February 2013. Archived from the original on 29 August 2014.
  16. "Box Hill GPX Track". Ride With GPS. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  17. "Coldharbour GPX Track". Ride With GPS. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  18. "Denbies GPX Track". Ride With GPS. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  19. "Newlands Corner GPX Track". Ride With GPS. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  20. "Staple Lane GPX Track". Ride With GPS. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  21. "Leith Hill GPX Track". Ride With GPS. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  22. "Prudential RideLondon FAQs". Prudential RideLondon. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
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