Molly Shaffer Van Houweling broke the UCI Hour Record on September 12, 2015, at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico. She rode 46.274 kilometres in 60 minutes on the high-altitude track.
She was the second female rider to go after cycling’s iconic record since its rules changed in May 2014, the first being British rider Dame Sarah Storey.
Van Houweling is the current holder of the US Hour Record. She is also a five-time UCI Amateur Road World Champion, most recently winning the road race and time trial titles at the 2014 UCI World Cycling Tour Final in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Van Houweling now lives in Berkeley, California, where she is Professor of Law and Associate Dean at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.
Van Houweling’s UCI Hour Record comes 60 years after the first mark (38.473km) was set by Soviet athlete Tamara Novikova in 1955. The existing record of 46.065km was established in Mexico City in 2003 by the then World Champion and Olympic gold medallist Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, of the Netherlands.
Congratulations Molly, from all the CyclingShorts.cc Team!
The Racing Chance Foundation and Team 22 are very pleased to announce a joint venture that will enhance the opportunities available to Under 23 and Junior Women riders within the UK.
A true pathway for success
From 2017, Team 22 will act as the Under 23 and Junior development squad for The Racing Chance Foundation (“Racing Chance”). This will allow Racing Chance to offer a complete development pathway for riders. This pathway will cover and support progression for riders from novice-focused intro- to-racing days and race skills development sessions for more advanced riders, through to a development squad (Team 22). Then beyond that, there will be the opportunity to race overseas through organised racing trips, as introduced and run by Racing Chance in 2015.
(c) Dan Monaghan Photography
Talent identification and development
Within this partnership structure, Team 22 will continue to operate as a separate team and will be supported as it is now through commercial sponsorship, thus ensuring that there is no drain on existing Racing Chance funds. Riders joining Team 22 will be supported through its existing structure of coaching and financial support, but will also have access to the additional opportunities available from Racing Chance. Both Racing Chance and Team 22 are already putting in place a scouting network that will allow us to identify and offer places to some of the brightest young bike racing talent in the UK, providing opportunities to riders not on an existing development pathway.
(c) Dan Monaghan Photography
What does this mean?
Team 22 owner Colin Batchelor says: “This is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved in this partnership. For us, it’ll be great to be part of a true development pathway and the level of support and opportunity we will be able to offer riders is something everyone involved in Team 22 is very excited about.”
Racing Chance Foundation Chair Heather Bamforth says “By creating an alternative road based pathway, we hope to be able to encourage Youth A riders to continue racing once they leave that age category by easing the transition into road racing with the junior and senior women. This development can only be seen as a positive for all people who are keen to see numbers participating increasing, and the Foundation hopes to offer training opportunities for all young women in the junior and under-23 categories regardless of whether they go on to race for Team 22.”
The Racing Chance Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales which was set up in April 2014 to provide an alternative pathway for women in competitive cycling. They focus on road-based events, providing training and racing opportunities from novice through to elite level.
Racing Chance have membership opportunities available, where you can join for £5. They will have a membership area up and running on their website shortly, but in the meantime, they are affiliated with British Cycling, you can sign up here. Not only will you be supporting a charity dedicated to women’s cycling, but the Foundation is also affiliated to Cycling Time Trials and the Manchester & District Ladies Cycling Association for those of you who want to have a go at time trialling but are not sure about what it is all about. So, whether you are already a member of a club or are currently riding on your own, why not sign up today? Men are welcome as much as women! In return you get exclusive access to their members and coaching area on the website (launching shortly), a discount off all purchases in the Racing Chance Shop for the duration of your membership (more benefits to be announced soon). You can also book and attend the charity’s heavily subscribed training events, for details of the latest events click here or why not visit the Racing Chance Foundation shop to purchase some stylish race kit, all profits from sales are put straight back in to the charity to provide more cycling opportunities for members. Even the smallest donation make a huge difference.
The Racing Chance Foundation is a not for profit registered charity: 1156835.
Great Britain’s Matthew Gibson set the quickest qualifying time in the 4000m Individual Pursuit setting a time of 4.23.212 holding a perfect line around the boards of Derby Arena. His closest competitor Owain Doull will ride in the finals later in the day.
Event 1 Individual Pursuit – Qualifying Men
Matt Gibson 04.23.212
Owain Doull 04.25.420
Germain Burton 04.25.664
Dion Beukeboom 04.26.345
Andrew Tennant 04.28.841
Julien Morice 04.29.653
Aleksandr Lisouski 04.32.144
Jan-Willem Van Schip 04.33.110
Jake Kelly 04.36.610
Steven Burke 04.36.610
Fintan Ryan 04.44.052
Dennis Wauch 04.44.679
Ivan Kovalev 04.45.562
Mark Downey 04.46.751
Roy Pieters 04.51.377
Event 2 Sprint Qualification Time Trial Men
Lewis Oliva 10.067
Callum Skinner 10.088
Quentin Lafague 10.108
Jason Kenny 10.109
Francois Pervis 10.188
Hugo Haak 10.327
Philip Hindes 10.343
Christos Volikakis 10.345
Matthew Crampton 10.419
Eoin Mullen 10.423
Zafeiros Volikakis 10.508
Matt Rotherham 10.530
Jose Moreno Sanchez10.633
Event 3 Sprint Qualification Time Trial Women
Katy Marchant 11.163
Jessica Varnish 11.276
Dannielle Khan 11.286
Victoria Williamson 11.333
Tania Calvo 11.465
Rebecca James 11.617
Yesna Rijkhoff 11.644
Olivia Montauban 11.662
Sandie Clair 11.744
Laurine Van Riessen 11.831
Nicky Degrendele 11.942
Shanaze Reade 12.043
The first Women’s Omnium event a forty lap Scratch Race, saw the first thirty laps run at a steady pace staying all together. With no one willing to commit early on the pace didn’t lift until around ten laps remaining.
As the race intensified, Ciara Horne attacked off the front of the pack with three laps to go, but faded in the final few hundred meters as the battle for the overall title began to take shape.
The crowd, already whipped up into a frenzy by Horne, we delighted to see Laura Trott cross the line first, with Jolien D’Hoore second and Laurie Berthon third in the bunch sprint.
A good start to Laura Trott’s Omnium campaign, but her biggest rivals were still looming within striking distance. The next event in this session will be the 3000m IP.
Event 4 The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – 10Km Scratch Race Women
Marchant, Varnish, Khan, Williamson, Calvo & Rijkhoff progress through.
The first Men’s Omnium event a sixty lap Scratch Race couldn’t have been any different to that of the Women’s event. An energetic start with small attacks from the start including Chris Latham whom managed a spell out-front.
It wasn’t long before a six man break got free to take a lap, with Clancy & Cavendish making the move. Seeing the danger, De Ketele and two others joined the front of the race also gaining a lap.
De Ketele and Lisouski manage to gain another lap on the field in the chaos as the race drew to it’s conclusion, with Dibben going for a long solo victory to cross the line first.
Clancy turned up the heat to take the bunch sprint for second placement, but both Brits were down a lap on De Ketele & Lisouski who lead the Men’s Omnium going into round two, the 4000m IP.
Event 7 The Sir Brailsford Omnium – Scratch Race Men
DE KETELE, Kenny BEL
LISOUSKI, Aleksandr BLR
DIBBEN, Jonathan GBR -1
CLANCY , Ed GBR -1
STEWART, Mark GBR -1
ELLORIAGA, Unai ESP -1
THOMAS, Benjamin FRA -1
EEFTING, Roy NED -1
WOOD, Oliver GBR -1
RODRIGUES, Gideoni BRA -1
CAVENDISH, Mark GBR -1
KNEISKY, Morgan FRA -1
DE PAUW, Moreno BEL -1
VELDT, Tim NED -1
KOVALEV, Ivan RUS -1
RYAN, Fintan IRL -2
WAUCH, Tobias AUT -2
DOWNEY, Mark IRL -2
MATZNER, Stefan AUT -2
LATHAM, Christopher GBR -2
MASTALLER, Stefan AUT -2
DOULL, Owain GBR DNF
Event 8 The Sir Brailsford Omnium – 3000m Individual Pursuit Women
Event 11 The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – 4000m Individual Pursuit Men
Chris Latham 04.26.073
Mark Cavendish 04.26.822
Jon Dibben 04.27.335
Ed Clancy 04.29.208
Mark Stewart 04.29.502
Kenny de Ketele 04.30.886
Gideoni Rodrigues 04.32.437
Aleksandr Lisouki 04.34.138
Unai Elloriaga 04.34.258
Oli Wood 04.35.182
Benjamin Thomas 04.35.755
Tim Veldt 04.35.971
Morgan Kniesky 04.36.161
Moreno de Pauw 04.40.976
Roy Eefing 04.41.085
Ivan Kovalev 04.41.916
SATURDAY EVENING SESSION:
Doors open at 18:00. Racing from 19:00 to 22:00.
Event 12 Sprint – 5-8th Finals Men
Volikakis, Haak, Lafargue & Pervis
Event 13 Sprint – 5-8th Finals Women
Williamson, Khan, Clair & Montauban.
Event 14 The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Elimination Women
TROTT, Laura GBR
D’HOORE, Jolien BEL
ARCHIBALD, Katie GBR
JEULAND, Pascale FRA
KAY, Emily GBR
NELSON, Emily GBR
OLABERRIA, Leire ESP
BERTHON, Laurie FRA
WOJTYRA, Malgorzata POL
STEEL, Elizabeth NZL
BOYLAN, Lydia IRL
REYBOULD, Rebecca GBR
LLOYD, Manon GBR
HORNE, Ciara GBR
Event 15 Sprint – Semi Final (Match A) Men
Lewis Oliva beat Jason Kenny in the semis. Callum Skinner beat Philip Hindes in a three round tie breaker to join Oliva.
Event 16 Sprint – Semi Final (Match A) Women
Katy Marchant beat Tania Calvo in the semis. Jessica Varnish beat Yesna Rijkhoff to join Marchant.
Event 17 Individual Pursuit – Finals Men
Matthew Gibson continued his impressive qualifying performance to win the 4000 Individual Pursuit, passing Owain Doull in the closing stages of the race. Germain Burton squeezed a marginal win over Netherland’s Dion Beukeboom for third place.
Event 20 The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Elimination Men
A fast start in the final Omnium Session from the day came to a halt as a collision on the home straight neutralized the race. The race then re-started and it wasn’t long before the pace intensified. Another crash, once again neutralized the race involving the same rider Rodrigues, this time with Jon Dibben.
With Omnium leader De Ketele finding himself out of contention early on, second place man Lisouski went out soon after.
With four Brits left to battle the top slots, Cavendish found himself on the Cote Azure and relegated from the remainder of the race. Ed Clancy went on the win the second round, with Chris Latham second and Benjamin Thomas of France third.
Event 23 Madison Time Trial Men
Great Britain’s Steven Burke & Owain Doull set the quickest time 0.55.240 in the Revolution Madison Time Trial, getting to close to the sub 55s Revolution record.
100% ME 0.56.774
Austria 0.58.514
France 0.59.434
Belarus 1.00.316
Ireland 1.02.181
Belgium 1.21.760
Event 29 Revolution Longest Lap Men
Matthew Gibson
Morgan Kniesky
Thomas Benjamin
Alekandr Lisouki
Ivan Kovalev
Roy Eefing
Event 30 Sprint – Final Men
Lewis Oliva beat Callum Skinner to clinch the Sprint Title. Jason Kenny beat Philip Hindes.
Event 31 Sprint – Final Women
Katy Marchant beat Jessica Varnish to take the Sprint Title. Tania Calvo beat Yesna Rijkhoff over three heats.
SUNDAY AFTERNOOON SESSION:
The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Time Trial Women
Trott, Laura
D’Hoore, Jolien
Berthon, Laurie
Boylan, Lydia
Olaberria, Leire
Wojtyra, Malgorzata
Archibald, Katie
Jeuland, Pascale
The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Time Trial Men
Clancy, Ed
Latham, Chris
Eefting, Roy
Veldt, Tim
Cavendish, Mark
Dibben, Jon
De Pauw, Moreno
De Ketele, Kenny
Wood, Oliver
Kneisky, Morgan
Keirin – First Round Men
Volikakis, Olivia, Crampton, Kenny, Hindes & Haak go through from round one.
Keirin – First Round Women
Khan, Marchant, Calvo, Clair, Van Riessen & Montauban go through from round one.
The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Flying Lap Women
Trott, Laura
D’Hoore, Jolien
Berthon, Laurie
Jeuland, Pascale
Archibald, Katie
Wojtyra, Malgorzata
Boylan, Lydia
Olaberria, Leire
Nelson, Emily
Kay, Emily
The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Flying Lap Men
Clancy, Ed
Eefting, Roy
Cavendish, Mark
Veldt, Tim
Dibben, Jon
De Pauw,Moreno
Latham, Chris
De Ketele,Kenny
Thomas, Benjamin
Elloriaga, Unai
The Sir Dave Brailsford Omnium – Points Race Women
The Revolution Elite Championship and HOY Future Stars will begin at round 2 in Manchester on 24th October following the Special Opening Event at the Derby Arena on 14-16 August.
The Derby event is a special ‘Olympic Qualification’ event which has been developed in conjunction with Team GB to provide an opportunity to score some crucial UCI qualification points before the 15th September 2015 cut-off date.
The Stars are coming out to play in the three day, four session event. Big guns from the road return to the track in a statement of intent, on the path to Rio 2016. None bigger than former Tour de France Winner, Sir Bradley Wiggins.
The Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish who recently road the track in Europe returns in the hope of a chance of Olympic glory, riding the Madison with Sir Brad, whilst regular Trackies Ed Clancy, Owain Doull and Mark Christian will want to stamp their authority on the event.
The competition in all disciplines are once more attracting huge European athletes. Tim Veldt, Kenny de Ketele, Aaron Gate, Francois Pervis, Hugo Haak but to name a few, with the Women’s Events attracting Jolien D’Hoore, Pascale Jeuland, Laurie Berthon and Sandie Clair.
Leading British Endurance Women include the darling of the track and the biggest crowd pleaser Laura Trott, with Katie Archibald, Joanna Rowsell Shand, Elinor Barker and Grace Garner. Competing for the Sprint glory will be Rebecca James, Jessica Varnish and Danielle Khan, whilst Shanaze Reade returns to put on a show.
FRIDAY EVENING SESSION:
Doors open at 18:00. Racing from 19:00 to 22:30.
Stars were falling in more ways than one in the opening session of Revolution 52 in Derby. World Champion Sprinter Francois Pervis tumbled in a collision with Matt Rotherham late-on into the evening as the Revolution Longest Lap came to its conclusion.
Pervis had also been beating by fellow countryman Quentin Lefargue in the kilometer time trial, but surprise of the evening was Callum Skinner going one place better to top the leader board with a 1:01.135.
Crowd favorite Laura Trott road into third position in the opening race of the evening, the 3000m individual pursuit. Riding against a super strong Ciara Horne who’s shown consistant form over the Summer months on the road, pipped former National Champion Joanna Rowsell Shand in this qualifying session.
The pair locked horns again in the final play-off, but this time, Rowsell-Shand had the upper hand on Horne, producing another 03:37.
Another upset in the Women’s 500m Time Trial for the Sprinters, saw Katy Marchant taking the podium from Jess Varnish by a whisker. Youngster Danielle Khan claimed third with France’s Sandie Clair fourth.
The biggest attraction on the evening was of course, Sir Bradley Wiggin’s return to the Track. Riding in the four-man Team Pursuit, brought the crowd alive as the laps began counting down. Setting a qualifying time in first position, Great Britain was just shy of a sub four minute ride with a 04:00.324 going into the final with Youth Team 100% ME.
Substituting Jon Dibben for Ed Clancy in the podium play-off, saw the only sub four performance of the night with a 03:54.974. The Netherlands went on to beat Austria for the final placings.
Event 1 Individual Pursuit – Qualifying Women
Ciara Horne GB 03.37.278
Joanna Rowsell Shand GB 03.37.438
Laura Trott GB 03.39.586
Emily Kay GB 03.42.202
Leire Olaberria Esp 03.43.916
Emily Nelson GB 03.46.938
Katie Archibald GB 03.48.178
Lydia Gurley Irl 03.48.496
Event 2 Team Pursuit – Qualifying Men
Great Britain Gbr 04.00.324
100% ME Gbr 04.04.568
Netherlands Ned 04.06.251
Austria Aut 04.26.297
Event 3 500m Time Trial Women
Katy Marchant GB 00.34.117
Jessica Varnish GB 00.34.292
Danielle Khan GB 00.34.961
Sandie Clair Fra 00.35.262
Yesna Rijhoff Ned 00.35.757
Laurine Van Riessen Ned 00.36.006
Shanaze Reade GB 00.36.472
Ellie Coster GB 00.36.651
Event 4 Individual Pursuit – Finals Women
Joanna Rowsell Shand beat Ciara Horne in the final play-off. Laura Trott beat Emily Kay for the third place.
Event 5 1km Time Trial Men
Callum Skinner GB 01.01.135
Quentin Lafague Fra 01.01.878
Francois Pervis Fra 01.02.336
Lewis Oliva GB 01.02.749
Matthew Rotherham GB 01.02.810
Matthew Crampton GB 01.03.786
Hugo Haak Ned 01.03.794
Jose Moreno Sanchez Esp 01.04.935
Event 6 Young Riders Scratch Race Mixed
The Youth Scratch race ran over two rounds with Brad Dransfield (Kirkless CA)winning both races. Thamana Nel, Tom Humphrey and Ellie Russell finished both races in the same positions. In the first round, many of the field were lapped as they settled into a high pace of the twenty lap race, but managed to stay together for round two.
Event 7 Team Pursuit – Finals Men
Great Britain beat 100% ME in the Men’s Team Pursuit final. The Netherlands beat Austria for third place.
Event 8 Revolution Longest Lap – Sprinters Men
Great Britain’s Lewis Oliva won the Revolution Longest lap sprint to the line, beating fellow countryman Callum Skinner. The Netherlands Hugo Haak came home third with France’s Quentin Lefarague fourth.
Event 10 Scratch Race Women
Katie Archibald (GB)gained a lap halfway through the Women’s Scratch Race to claim the podium finishing safely in the bunch. Although several attacks were made to escape the peleton, it was Laura Trott that took the final bunch sprint.
Since their incorporation as a charity last year, The Racing Chance Foundation has been providing cycle training and racing opportunities for women in the UK, and have provided coached sessions for over 200 women since January 2014.
Limited funding has meant that the majority of racing opportunities so far that the Foundation has been able to provide have been restricted to the UK scene, however, since receiving a generous donation from the Fred Whitton Challenge, the Foundation has been able to secure places in two international stage races, the first of which is this weekend: The Ladies Tour of Norway.
The Foundation are pleased to announce that their first team to travel abroad will consist of the following riders:
The Racing Chance Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales which was set up in April 2014 to provide an alternative pathway for women in competitive cycling. They focus on road-based events, providing training and racing opportunities from novice through to elite level.
RCF have membership opportunities available, where you can join for £5. They will have a membership area up and running on their website shortly, but in the meantime, they are affiliated with British Cycling, you can sign up here. Not only will you be supporting a charity dedicated to women’s cycling, but the Foundation is also affiliated to Cycling Time Trials and the Manchester & District Ladies Cycling Association for those of you who want to have a go at time trialling but are not sure about what it is all about. So, whether you are already a member of a club or are currently riding on your own, why not sign up today? Men are welcome as much as women! In return you get exclusive access to their members and coaching area on the website (launching shortly), a discount off all purchases in the Racing Chance Shop for the duration of your membership (more benefits to be announced soon). You can also book and attend the charity’s heavily subscribed training events, for details of the latest events click here or why not visit the Racing Chance Foundation shop to purchase some stylish race kit, all profits from sales are put straight back in to the charity to provide more cycling opportunities for members. Even the smallest donation make a huge difference.
The Racing Chance Foundation is a not for profit registered charity: 1156835.
Jean-Pierre Drucker produced the sprint of his life to win the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic today beating Britain’s Ben Swift and Dutchman Mike Teunissen on The Mall in central London to claim the first victory of his professional career.
The 28-year-old was part of an eight-strong group of cyclists that burst clear of the peloton with a quarter of the 200-kilometre race to go before four riders hared up Whitehall and under Admiralty Arch in pursuit of glory.
Swift led them up The Mall with the Finish Line in sight and Buckingham Palace visible in the distance, the Team Sky sprinter desperate to make amends for last year when he lost by a hair’s width to Adam Blythe.
But Drucker had been tailing him home and the Luxembourg rider launched his attack with 50 metres to go, surprising the Briton and Lotto NL-Jumbo’s Teunissen to take a hard-earned victory built on brilliant teamwork by his experienced BMC Racing Team.
Drucker threw his arm in the air as he crossed the line to thunderous roars, a huge grin breaking out on his bearded face.
“To get my first professional win in front of Buckingham Palace is so special,” said Drucker. “The crowd here is so crazy about cycling, it’s fantastic to get my first win here.
“I love racing in England. I did the Tour of Yorkshire this year and that was fantastic too. After getting my first pro win here, I love it even more.”
Swift broke his shoulder in the Yorkshire race but fought his way back from surgery to bid for victory in this event, still smarting from last year’s defeat. He led the three medallists in a hard chase along Millbank to reel in Teunissen’s team-mate Sep Vanmarcke, who had made a lone bid for victory 12km out.
Once they’d overpowered the Belgian, all the smart money was on the Sheffield man, a renowned finishing kicker. But Drucker had finished just behind ‘Manx missile’ Mark Cavendish in California earlier this year and was confident of his chances.
“I was feeling good all day and at the end I just kept my eye on Swift,” said Drucker. “I could see he was very motivated and really wanted victory in front of his own crowd. I knew he would go for the win, but I worked hard as well.
“I’m a fast guy too and I just tried not to make any mistakes. I love it when it’s hard and that was our plan. We tried to make it a hard race by moving guys to the front. It always feels so good when a plan works out.”
As for Swift, in the end he was happy enough to make the podium for the second year in a row after missing three months’ training, although he admitted to miscalculating his finish.
“I had to go really hard in the last few kilometres and I started to cramp up a little bit from the effort of chasing,” said Swift. “Even though I’d have loved to have won, I’m really, really happy.
“I had three months out of competition so this is a really nice way to come back to racing and get a good result straight away. It was good to be on the podium.
“I couldn’t see any metres-to-go boards so I got caught on the front, trying to get the others to come round me, but you could see the guys coming from behind so you couldn’t play too much cat-and-mouse.”
As for Cavendish, the much-fancied Briton was missing his key lead-out man Mark Renshaw and was not at his best after a week-long illness following the Tour de France. It quickly became clear that he wasn’t going to save himself for a final sprint as he spearheaded not one, but two attacks during the race, and coasted home 44th.
In fact, Cavendish was barely out of the camera lens in the early stages as he could be seen chatting with Britain’s other big-name star Sir Bradley Wiggins as the field of 143 riders rolled off the red carpet and away from the signing-on point at Horse Guards Parade, and he was among a group of four in a mini-break shortly after the peloton passed over Hampton Court Bridge.
The Briton was soon at the back of the race, however, where he stopped to receive mechanical attention to the front of his bike, leaving him briefly off the pace.
Madison Genesis rider Erick Rowsell, brother of Olympic gold medallist and RideLondon-Surrey 100 rider Joanna, was among a group of five who then escaped as the peloton rattled through Byfleet to Ripley and on to the sun-splashed Surrey countryside.
Another Briton, Peter Williams of One Pro Cycling, was also in the breakaway, along with the young Italian Riccardo Stacchiotti of Vini Fantini, Topspot Vlaanderen’s Sander Helven, and Lander Seynaeve of Wanty-Group Gobert.
They opened a gap of five minutes with just over a quarter of the race gone and stayed away over the first four of the event’s five categorised climbs up Leith Hill and over Ranmore Common three times.
Rowsell, from Sutton, was racing in his own backyard and the Surrey man used his local knowledge to lead up the narrow lanes and over the summits, amassing points for the King of the Mountains competition, while Williams concentrated on securing the sprint title, out-battling Stacchiotti for the honour.
BMC sent their young Dutch stagiaire Floris Gerts up the road to try and bridge the gap, and by the time they’d completed the three Ranmore loops, he had replaced Seynaeve among the leaders. The peloton broke up on the third Ranmore climb, and Lotto NL-Jumbo charged out to reel them in like a pack of wolves hunting down their prey.
Seven men reached the base of Box Hill with just over 50km to go. But their time alone was numbered and Gerts’s team-mates Philippe Gilbert and Rohan Dennis emerged from the pack for the first time to lead the chase up the slopes, driving on at the top in an attempt to leave the race sprinters in their wake.
With an hour’s racing still to go, it was now a case of heads down for the city. Cavendish briefly launched himself out in front with Dennis, then eight burst clear to open a gap that grew to more than a minute as they reached Kingston for a second time.
Among them were Swift, Drucker, Vanmarcke and Tuenissen. The gap grew to two-and-a-half minutes and with just 15km to go the main field called off the hunt.
Vanmarcke attacked as they skirted Wimbledon Common and he opened a 16-second lead as he crossed the river at Putney Bridge. A well-practised one-day rider, the Belgian seemed to be pulling away. But he was he gasping for air, and the lead vanished as Swift led the chasers on the run-in to along Millbank and past the Houses of Parliament.
It was a hard slog. Too hard as it turned out for the Briton, as Drucker burst off his shoulder for the win of his life.
Swift may have missed out, but there was some good news for Britain as a delighted Rowsell bagged the King of the Mountains contest on the rolling hills he’s been riding since he was 14.
“They are all local roads to me,” said the 25-year-old. “I grew up riding around here and have been up Box Hill and Leith Hill hundreds of times. I knew no one in the race would know these hills as well as me.
“So to win King of the Mountains here made it a perfect day.”
It was a perfect day for Jean-Pierre Drucker too.
Defending champion Adam Blythe talks team tactics ahead of the Classic
The Orica-GreenEDGE rider expects this year’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic to come down to a bunch sprint on The Mall when the riders roll into the capital after conquering the Surrey Hills.
Guarischi pays tribute to her team after Grand Prix win
Velocio Sports deliver team leader Barbara Guarischi to the line in the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix.
Alldis makes it third time lucky to win Handcycle Classic
A bad night’s sleep couldn’t stop Brian Alldis from fulfilling his dream of winning the 2015 Prudential RideLondon Handcycle Classic.
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Molly Shaffer Van Houweling broke the UCI Hour Record on September 12, 2015, at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico. She rode 46.274 kilometres in 60 minutes on the high-altitude track.
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