Alexander Kristoff wins RideLondon Classic

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Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) sprinted to victory at the RideLondon Classic on Sunday, beating Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-Scott) and Michael Matthews (Sunweb) to the line on The Mall.

The sprinters' teams left it until late to marshal escapees Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) but ultimately made the catch with a kilometre to go to set up a bunch finish.

Bora-Hansgrohe led the pack into the final 500 metres for Sam Bennett, with the final lead-out man peeling off with around 250 metres to go as Bennett launched his effort. The Irishman couldn't fend off his surging rivals, however, with Kristoff pulling past on his right to take a commanding lead that he held all the way across the line to triumph in the event's first running as a WorldTour race.

Cort Nielsen made a late push to finish a close second, with Matthews settling for third ahead of a surprising Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac).

Kristoff's victory – his second at the WorldTour level this season after Eschborn-Frankfurt – will be a welcome change of pace for the Norwegian on the heels of a frustrating Tour de France, where he was unable to win a stage. It comes at a time of uncertainty as well, with Kristoff undecided on whose kit he'll wear next season after his current contract with Katusha runs out at the end of this year.

"We weren't able to win at all in the Tour, so we wanted to bounce back today," Kristoff said. "Today we showed we still have a good level and everybody was committed. I knew this course and knew it suited me quite well."

How it unfolded

The 183-kilometre race started and finished in central London, but much of the ride took place on a lumpy parcours on the outskirts of the city, with five short but relatively steep official climbs on the day.

Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha), Julien Duval (AG2R La Mondiale), Twan Castelijns (LottoNL-Jumbo), Wesley Kreder (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors) formed the early break, moving clear as the race headed out of town. They worked their gap up to around four minutes before the peloton tightened the leash and gradually began pulling them back in, with Sunweb putting in much of the work at the front.

Eventually, Duval and Kreder were dropped, leaving a trio of Keisse, Castelijns and Schmidt up the road. Their gap was down to two minutes with 95 kilometres to go, and it continued to fall rapidly as the pack revved up the pace for the second trip up the Ranmore climb. The catch was made shortly thereafter, but that only spurred further action in the bunch, with Sky applying serious pressure at the head of affairs.

A flurry of attacks and counterattacks saw splits open in the pack and a small group get clear over the climb, with Sky's Pete Kennaugh jumping away with Trentin and Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott). Kennaugh dropped off the back of the move before long, but he was replaced in the lead trio by a bridging Stuyven, who caught up on the next climb as the peloton regrouped behind.

The trio of Impey, Trentin and Stuyven never had much more than half a minute's advantage, but their gap remained relatively steady as the kilometres ticked down and the race headed back into central London. The move would ultimately stay clear for nearly an hour, although Impey fell off the pace with around 15 kilometres to go.

Trentin and Stuyven pressed on, and despite having a gap of only around 20 seconds, they made it all the way through the final corners only to be caught by a hungry peloton with a kilometre to go.

Although Bora controlled the sprint into the last few hundred metres, Kristoff was well-placed only a few positions behind Bennett, and he quickly pulled even once Bennett opened his sprint. The Katusha rider surged to the front as Bennett began to fade, and held off Cort Nielsen for the win.

"The team did amazing work today, especially Nils [Politt] to pull back those guys. There were not many teams who wanted to work with us so we did the main job and pulled it off at the end," Kristoff said.

"After my crash in the Tour I did not feel so good and not in training either, but today it was ok. I could not really follow on the climb, but I felt much better than I did at the Tour. I knew I had a good shot and at the end Michael Mørkøv placed me very well for the final and I just had to take it from there."

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