Wild wins Prudential RideLondon Classique

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Kirsten Wild (Hitec Products) did exactly what most predicted and smashed the bunch sprint on The Mall to win the Prudential RideLondon Classique on Saturday. The powerful Dutch rider won the crash-marred finale ahead of Nina Kessler (Lensworld-Zannata) and Leah Kirchmann (Liv-Plantur).

Organisers of the Prudential RideLondon Classique offered the women’s field €100,000 prize money, equal to the prize given at the men's race the following day. That made it the richest race on the women's calendar, where the winner took home €25,000, and Wild a happier champion.

The race took place on a new 5.5km circuit in central London, beginning on The Mall in St James’s Park, going up Constitution Hill, turning at the top to come down and on to Birdcage Walk, then passing Big Ben and turning left on to Whitehall and right on to the Strand before turning again to come back up the Strand, through Trafalgar Square, Admiralty Arch and back for a flat finish on to The Mall. The women raced for 12 laps for a total of 66km.

The women set off for an aggressive start on lap 1 but it was Roxanne Knetemann (Rabo Liv) who was the first to create a gap during the second lap. The move resulted in a bigger split in the field with five riders clearing the peloton. That move also included Lotta Lepisto (Cervelo-Bigla), Valentina Scandolara (Cylance), Spoor, Plichta and Marta Tagliaferro (Ale Cipollini).

The five-rider breakaway didn’t last long as the speeds from the peloton were too fast, and they were reeled in by the third lap.

Claire Rose (Podium Ambition) and Annauska Koster (Rabo Liv) were the next to clear the field but there was a group of riders trying to bridge across. Neither groups stayed out front long as Wiggle High5 led the field to bring them all back.

The attacks continued until a small group emerged with Alice Arzuffi (Lensworld-Zannata), Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) and Lauren Hall (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank), and it was Brand who took the first intermediate sprint.

Back together again, Rabo Liv continued on as the most aggressive team in the race as Jeanne Korevaar was the next to attack. But with eight laps to go, teams with strong sprinters in the mix began to move forward and the field was all together.

Ahead of the next intermediate sprint lap, Ingrid Drexel (Astana), Erica Allar (Rally Cycling) and Stephanie Pohl (Cervelo-Bigla) rode off the front but they were reeled in before the sprint won by Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM).

Seven riders broke clear of the field with two eventually breaking off the front of that including Korevaar and Confalonieri but the pair were caught by a chasing Liv-Plantur team.

Jessica Allen (Orica-AIS) attacked into the corner at The Strand and cleared the field solo and gained the most time of the day on the field with four laps to go. Amy Pieters (Wiggle High5) and Drexel bridged across to the solo breakaway rider and they built eight seconds on the chasing field. But that breakaway, too, didn’t survive the last two laps of the high-speed race.

On the third intermediate sprint, Sarah Roy (Orica-AIS) picked up full points and prizes ahead of Brand and Lepisto with three laps to go.

The field stayed together for the final two laps as sprinters' teams organized themselves near the front of the field. Hitec Product, largely quiet during the race, came forward with their sprinter Wild. Canyon-SRAM surfed the front with British road champion Hannah Barnes on their wheels. While Cervelo-Bigla moved forward with Lepisto and Numainville.

As the women set up for the final sprint, a crash in the middle of the road marred the efforts of some of the teams. In the end, it was Wild who got through the mess unscathed and took the bunch sprint for the victory.

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