The Ford RideLondon Classique became a three-day Women’s WorldTour event in 2022 and continued with this format on May 24-26. The 397km route includes two stages in Essex and a final stage in London, with a finish on The Mall.
Following a similar route to last year’s race, the organisers have modified the two first stages in Essex, while the third and final stage returns to the traditional central London circuit.
“The best riders in the world want to race the Ford RideLondon Classique – the talent on show in the 2024 field represents the very best of the elite women’s peloton. The sprinting on show will be of the highest order and this could be the fastest edition of the race ever,” said Scott Sunderland, race director.
"With a world-class lineup on a world-class course, you can expect to see aggressive team tactics and strategic attacks by riders. The course has been modified in 2024 to reward this type of racing during the stages in Essex.”
Stage 1 on Friday, May 24 will start in the medieval market town of Saffron Walden, in north-west Essex for 159.2 kilometres to the historic city of Colchester.
After just 8km of racing, the riders will approach Hertford Lane and the first Queen of the Mountains in Elmdon, quickly followed 10 kilometres later by the second QOM in Barkway. The riders will head east on rolling roads before hitting the first intermediate sprint of the day in Halstead, 88km into the stage. One more QOM in Wormingord and second intermediate sprint in Mistley will be faced before the conclusion in Colchester.
Maldon will host the start and finish of stage 2 on Saturday. The 146.6km stage will head east through Goldhanger and Tolleshunt D’Arcy to its most northerly point in the village of Birch before looping west to Tiptree after 28km. The riders will continue onto Braxted and Beacon Hill before the first of three loops of the circuit.
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The route will loop towards the first QOM points at Little Baddow, and the peloton will do its first pass through Maldon and head towards Wickham Bishops and the first intermediate sprint, 74km into the stage. The two further loops of the circuit follow, with QOM and Sprint points at the same points before a finish in Maldon High Street.
The race will culminate with the showpiece stage 3 on Sunday, May 26. The peloton will make eight full laps of the 11.5km Central London circuit for a total of 92 kilometres before a final sprint for the victory on The Mall.
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
