From one of the more interesting concepts on the WWT to one of the least - the Prudential RideLondon Classique, one of the most misleadingly named races on the calendar. It's not a Classic, you get to see next to nothing of London in it, and its only connection to French is that it's along the same lines as the old Champs Elysées version of La Course; while the men get to do the interesting parcours patterned after the Olympic Road Race, the women get to ride a crit for a couple of hours - compare the
challenging route of the men's race with
the 5,5km circuit the women take on 12 times for a punishing overall distance of 66km.
This is my least favourite WWT event, for a multitude of reasons, ranging from the fact that a much better alternative would be
SO EASY to produce bearing in mind that amateur and hobby women can ride the full course but the pros can't, to the fact that racing is likely to be sterile and straightforward, because it's a pan flat featureless crit, yet it is going to get better broadcast coverage than most of the tougher races like Flèche and the Giro, perpetuating the myth of women's cycling being boring, to the fact that the women's and men's races both being broadcast means they can be directly compared, yet the courses and the races are unequal, with the men having much more opportunity to produce entertaining racing than the women on the courses provided, to the fact that the circuit isn't even as interesting in terms of history and culture as the comparable stage in the Women's Tour (notwithstanding that this now means that the 2017 WWT includes not one but TWO totally flat sub-70km circuit races in London).
It's not ALL bad, though; as mentioned above, we will get a decent amount of coverage broadcast of it, with the BBC responsible so it should be at least a decent quality broadcast too. And the crowds ought to be very good owing to the urban location, it being very accessible and the British loving turning out a crowd for a bike race at the moment, regardless of who's going to be there - they've shown a lot of enthusiasm for the Women's Tour. That hasn't always been replicated in RideLondon but the crowds should still be decent. And the other positive is that, given it's highly likely to end in a sprint, we really have a world class sprinting field lining up, with the majority of the grimpeuses resting up after La Course knowing this isn't one for them - so no Annemiek, no Elisa, no Anna, no Kasia, no Megan, no Claudia (although the organizers had hoped Kasia would race following her win in the Women's Tour, her winning a comparatively flat-to-rolling race like that was a bit of an anomaly due to the time gap she was given on the first day, and this is totally not her kind of race), but as she's short on race days after withdrawing from the Giro early, Ash Moolman-Pasio is rolling into town to help Lotta Lepistö's quest for victory, especially important as Lisa Klein is sick and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is resting, this having been a very long season for her.
The sprint field is mighty, as you might expect. Last year's podium is here in full, led by Cylance's Kirsten Wild, who won the first WWT edition of the race last season and is a monster power sprinter well suited to this kind of course. Nina Kessler, second last year, is here with her new team, Hitec Products, where she moved to replace Wild at the end of last season. Sunweb had Leah Kirchmann in 3rd place last season, though I suspect there may be more interest in Coryn Rivera's chances for them this year, since the American cut her teeth on short crits of this kind in the States, and with Anna, Annemiek, Kasia and Elisa all absent, there's the chance for some free points to improve her position in the WWT overall standings here. Canyon have a couple of options; Barbara Guarischi won this race in 2015, but like Sunweb they may be favouring another rider; Hannah Barnes has had a hell of a season, is really coming into her own, won a Giro stage, is on home roads and, crucially, was 2nd in the equivalent stage in the Women's Tour earlier in the season. That stage was won by Belgian champion Jolien d'Hoore (she wasn't Belgian champion then but is now) who is also one of the absolute favourites, as part of a strong Wiggle team that also includes Bronzini and Edmondson, both of whom have a decent turn of speed if required too. Bronzini isn't the only Italian former World Champion lining up; Alé's sprint charge will be led by Marta Bastianelli (Guderzo's also starting, but less likely to be relevant to the results sheet in a sprinter's race). Lotta Lepistö leads a reduced Cervélo team and was on the podium of the World Championships, so she has more than enough credibility as a sprinter to worry the others. And Orica have Sarah Roy, who has a very fast finish but also surprised us with a breakaway win in the Women's Tour, so she has fond memories of racing in Britain this season. Annalisa Cucinotta and Maria Giulia Confalonieri for Lensworld could be dark horses; the former was on the podium here in 2015. Another potential outsider is Roxane Fournier, who has racked up a number of placements this season for FDJ. Katie Archibald for WNT is on home roads and was very racy in the intermediates in the Women's Tour; it seems at this point in her career that longer races are grinding her down but that won't be a problem in a 66km race, and she is very quick. Smaller team home fires are also kept burning by Alice Barnes, who is on great form after doing a number on none other than Merckx in the BeNe Tour and will surely relish the chance to rekindle the Mega Powers Collide! sibling rivalry with Hannah here.
Strangely, some of the strongest teams are those without a front-line sprinter. Boels-Dolmans, for example; the most obvious "this rider is a sprinter" case on their race roster is Jip van den Bos, but she's also their least experienced rider and just coming back from a broken arm. Chantal Blaak, Amy Pieters and Christine Majerus are all riders who can get a solid result if they turn their hand to a sprint, however, while the absence of Lizzie Deignan does mean they don't have an obvious leader for the race, it means we might get the team trying to break the race up to get rid of some of the more one-trick-pony sprinters, and it means we might hopefully get some more objective commentary. Also WM3 don't have a front-line sprinter; Riejanne Markus has shown some pace this season but needs a tougher selection I feel and oh god who am I kidding they have Marianne Vos who is Marianne Vos and that's all you need really.
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