Kirsten Wild (WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling) crossed the line first Saturday at the RideLondon Classique, but the race jury ruled the Dutch rider deviated from her line in the final 100 metres and disqualified her result, lifting Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) to the top step of the podium ahead of Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Cylance Cycling).
After further review of video footage of the crash, officials later reduced the decision from disqualification to relegation to last place in the front group and Wild was reinstated to 37th place.
After a string of summer stage races, the Women's WorldTour heads back to the one-day 2019 Prudential RideLondon Classique held in London on August 3.
The race started in 2013 as a criterium and is in it's seventh edition, but it has been part of the Women's WorldTour since the series' inception in 2016. Although it has received some criticism for being a short circuit race, it does post one of the highest pay-outs in women's cycling at roughly €100,000 and has traditionally offered live streaming.
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Last year’s race was 12 laps of a 5.3km circuit for a total of 64.1km. Organisers shortened the circuit this year to 3.4km and the women will race 20 laps for a total of 68km of racing.
The circuit starts on The Mall next to St. James's Park in central London. The route continues clockwise around St. James's Park and past the Horse Guards Parade. It then goes down Birdcage Walk and passed Buckingham Palace and onto Constitution Hill. The peloton will travel up Constitution Hill to the end and then turn around and come back the same way, and head back onto The Mall for the finish line.
Organisers have cut out the section of last year's course that included Admiralty Arch, Big Ben and Trafalgar Square.
Organisers were disappointed to learn that their one-day race was not selected to be part of the 2020 Women's WorldTour, after date changes meant that it would conflict with the Ladies Tour of Norway.
In last year's 2018 edition of RideLondon Classique, Kirsten Wild (then Wiggle High5) triumphed on The Mall for a second time after her 2016 win. In a headwind sprint, the Dutchwoman beat Marianne Vos (then WaowDeals) to the line, with Elisa Balsamo (Valcar PBM) finishing in third place.
Wild is expected to return to the race to defend her title with WNT-Rotor. Organisers announced the teams that will be participating in the race to include Ale Cipollini, Boels Dolmans Cycling Team, Canyon / SRAM Racing, CCC-Liv, Drops, FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope, Hitec Products – Birk Sport, Lotto Soudal Ladies, Parkhotel Valkenburg, Rally UHC Cycling, Team Sunweb, Team Tibco – Silicon Valley Bank, Team Virtu Cycling, Trek-Segafredo and Valcar Cylance Cycling.
