Rivera sprints to RideLondon Classique victory
By Cycling News
American pips Lepisto to win on The Mall
Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) picked up her fourth WorldTour win of the 2017 season Saturday at the RideLondon Classique, sprinting to a narrow victory in the British capital.
The peloton pushed through driving rain on the urban circuit to set up a bunch kick on the Mall. Canyon-SRAM's Lisa Brennauer and Cervelo-Bigla's Lotta Lepistö battled at the head of the sprint to lead into the final hundred metres, but Rivera surged past on their right and pipped Lepistö for the win. Brennauer settled for third.
"I'm absolutely elated," said Rivera in a post-race interview on BBC Sport. "It's crazy. It's raining. It's not the best conditions, but when there's a goal in front of you, you've got to commit to get after it. It was a crazy, chaotic finish with a lot of elbows and everything."
The peloton largely stayed together throughout the 66-kilometre race in the British capital. Claudia Koster (VeloConcept) launched the first attack in lap two of the 12-lap race, but the attempt was neutralised quickly. A handful of escape attempts followed but none had staying power, and the race proved more fast and strung out than attacking and animated.
"[In the rain], I think everyone rides a bit different, a bit faster average speed and a bit more careful through the corners," said Rivera. "Everyone is a little more cautious. It makes a greater margin for error, but you have to deal with it and everybody has to deal with it. It's a challenge for everyone.
"There were a lot sprinters here," said world champion Amalie Dideriksen, who sprinted in for seventh place. "Nearly every team came with a sprint, and when it's a criterium the speed is really high because everyone wants to ride the front to save energy in the corners. It gets really hard to get away and even harder to stay away. No one team had to take control because the nature of the race controlled it automatically."
Three intermediate sprints on laps three, six and nine provided a bit of drama with newly crowned British criterium champion Katie Archibald (Team WNT) successfully challenging Leah Kirchmann (Sunweb) on the first sprint. Luxembourgish champion Christine Majerus pipped Kirchmann on the line at the mid-point of the race. It was a Boels-Dolmans on one-two on sprint three with Dideriksen first across the line ahead of Majerus. Kirchmann came third, but the total through the series of sprints gave her enough points to win the Continental Tyre Sprint Competition.
The high pace and the disruption in tempo due to intermediate sprints did damage at the back of the peloton with a number of riders losing contact, but the front of the peloton was largely a controlled affair with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervelo-Bigla) the most frequent figure on the front in the second half of the race.
Lauren Stephens (Team TIBCO-SVB) led the peloton over the penultimate passage of the start/finish line on The Mall, up Constitution Hill and past Buckingham Palace before Canyon-SRAM took over with Alexis Ryan, Trixi Worrack and Brennauer. The trio was lining things up for Hannah Barnes, who won a Giro Rosa stage earlier this month, but the Briton was unable to make her way onto her team's train.
Lepistö gained several spots with a bold move through the inside of the final corner that came 500 metres from the finish line. Majerus surged forward beyond the corner with Dideriksen on her wheel but was blocked by Worrack pulling off for Brennauer, who opened the sprint.
Lepistö closed quickly on the left to take the lead into the final hundred metres. Rivera closed even faster on the right, surging past moments before the line to take the win.
"I knew I was in the right place, and I just had to time my sprint correctly," said Rivera. "It's a very long sprint. You see it for awhile. It's a little deceptive, but I went at the right time apparently – and pulled it off."
Along with UCI Women's WorldTour points and another accolade to add her rapidly growing palmares, Rivera earned women's cycling largest prize purse. The race awards the winner €25,000 – an amount that is more than a large portion of the field's salary and equal to the prize awarded to the winner of the men's race on Sunday.
"I'm really excited to be here, really excited that the race understands that we race just as hard, just as crazy as the men," said Rivera. "It's special to me that they respect that. To win here, it's also my first time racing here, it's pretty special."
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Coryn Rivera (USA) Team Sunweb Women | 1:29:03 |
2 | Lotta Lepistö (Fin) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
3 | Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
4 | Marianne Vos (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling | |
5 | Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
6 | Jolien D'Hoore (Bel) Wiggle High5 | |
7 | Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
8 | Roxane Fournier (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
9 | Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
10 | Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle High5 | |
11 | Chloe Hosking (Aus) Alé Cipollini | |
12 | Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica Scott Women | |
13 | Mia Radotic (Cro) BTC City Ljubljana | |
14 | Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Sunweb Women | |
15 | Christina Siggaard (Den) Team Veloconcept Women | |
16 | Sarah Roy (Aus) Orica Scott Women | |
17 | Hannah Barnes (GBr) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
18 | Jeanne Korevaar (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling | |
19 | Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) Team Sunweb Women | |
20 | Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
21 | Lucinda Brand (Ned) Team Sunweb Women | |
22 | Eugenia Bujak (Pol) BTC City Ljubljana | |
23 | Ingrid Drexel (Mex) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | 0:00:07 |
24 | Eugénie Duval (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
25 | Elise Delzenne (Fra) Lotto Soudal Ladies | |
26 | Eleanor Dickinson (GBr) Great Britain National Team | |
27 | Anna Trevisi (Ita) Alé Cipollini | |
28 | Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita) BePink Cogeas | |
29 | Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | |
30 | Emilia Fahlin (Swe) Wiggle High5 | |
31 | Moniek Tenniglo (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling | |
32 | Alexandra Manly (Aus) Orica Scott Women | |
33 | Alice Barnes (GBr) Drops Cycling Team | |
34 | Sara Penton (Swe) Team Veloconcept Women | |
35 | Emilie Moberg (Nor) Hitec Products | |
36 | Danielle King (GBr) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
37 | Julie Leth (Den) Wiggle High5 | |
38 | Ursa Pintar (Slo) BTC City Ljubljana | |
39 | Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
40 | Elinor Barker (GBr) Great Britain National Team | |
41 | Polona Batagelj (Slo) BTC City Ljubljana | |
42 | Kendall Ryan (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | |
43 | Georgia Williams (NZl) Orica Scott Women | |
44 | Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
45 | Katarzyna Pawlowska (Pol) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
46 | Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | |
47 | Heather Fischer (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | |
48 | Riejanne Markus (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling | |
49 | Rachele Barbieri (Ita) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
50 | Annette Edmondson (Aus) Wiggle High5 | |
51 | Elizabeth Holden (GBr) Drops Cycling Team | |
52 | Christina Perchtold (Aut) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
53 | Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
54 | Manon Lloyd (GBr) Great Britain National Team | |
55 | Nikki Brammeier (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
56 | Abby-Mae Parkinson (GBr) Drops Cycling Team | |
57 | Simona Frapporti (Ita) Hitec Products | |
58 | Mieke Kröger (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
59 | Roxane Knetemann (Ned) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
60 | Lauren Stephens (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | |
61 | Lauren Kitchen (Aus) WM3 Pro Cycling | |
62 | Rotem Gafinovitz (Isr) WM3 Pro Cycling | |
63 | Aude Biannic (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
64 | Trine Schmidt (Den) Lotto Soudal Ladies | |
65 | Thea Thorsen (Nor) Hitec Products | |
66 | Gabriella Shaw (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | 0:00:21 |
67 | Gabrielle Pilote-Fortin (Can) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
68 | Lydia Boylan (Irl) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
69 | Nicole Hanselmann (Swi) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
70 | Annasley Park (GBr) Drops Cycling Team | |
71 | Lucy Shaw (GBr) Drops Cycling Team | |
72 | Hayley Jones (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
73 | Malgorzata Jasinska (Pol) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
74 | Coralie Demay (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | 0:00:27 |
75 | Sheyla Gutiérrez (Spa) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
76 | Julia Soek (Ned) Team Sunweb Women | |
77 | Winanda Spoor (Ned) Lensworld-Kuota | 0:00:42 |
78 | Molly Weaver (GBr) Team Sunweb Women | |
79 | Claire Rose (GBr) Great Britain National Team | 0:00:48 |
80 | Katie Archibald (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
81 | Alexis Ryan (USA) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
82 | Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé Cipollini | |
83 | Eileen Roe (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | 0:00:50 |
84 | Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Cylance Pro Cycling | 0:01:03 |
85 | Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | 0:01:16 |
86 | Sara Mustonen (Swe) Team Veloconcept Women | 0:01:19 |
87 | Nina Kessler (Ned) Hitec Products | 0:02:14 |
88 | Romy Kasper (Ger) Alé Cipollini | |
89 | Soraya Paladin (Ita) Alé Cipollini | |
90 | Nicolle Bruderer (Gua) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | |
91 | Maria Vittoria Sperotto (Ita) BePink Cogeas | |
92 | Elizabeth Jane Harris (GBr) Great Britain National Team | |
93 | Greta Richioud (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
94 | Abigail Van Twisk (GBr) Drops Cycling Team | |
95 | Jessica Allen (Aus) Orica Scott Women | |
96 | Puck Moonen (Ned) Lotto Soudal Ladies | |
97 | Martina Alzini (Ita) Alé Cipollini | |
98 | Grace Garner (GBr) Wiggle High5 | |
99 | Rebecca Carter (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
100 | Megan Barker (GBr) Great Britain National Team | |
101 | Fenna Vanhoutte (Bel) Lotto Soudal Ladies | |
102 | Chantal Hoffmann (Lux) Lotto Soudal Ladies | |
103 | Alison Jackson (Can) BePink Cogeas | |
104 | Katia Ragusa (Ita) BePink Cogeas | |
105 | Francesca Pattaro (Ita) BePink Cogeas | |
106 | Urska Zigart (Slo) BTC City Ljubljana | |
107 | Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | |
108 | Kim De Baat (Bel) Lensworld-Kuota | |
109 | Natalie Kerwin (NZl) Team Veloconcept Women | |
110 | Brianna Walle (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | |
111 | Isabelle Beckers (Bel) Lotto Soudal Ladies | |
112 | Susanne Andersen (Nor) Hitec Products | |
113 | Tone Hatteland Lima (Nor) Hitec Products | |
114 | Tereza Medvedova (Svk) BePink Cogeas | |
DNF | Claudia Koster (Ned) Team Veloconcept Women |
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