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2015 RideLondon-Surrey Classic Race preview

Roar Guru
1st August, 2015
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A self-styled classic and festival of cycling, the one-day Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic returns for a third year running. It’s a race for the sprinters so far, will they continue to dominate the proceedings?

Similar to the Clasica San Sebastian, the race begins and finishes in the streets of historic London close to Whitehall and Buckingham Palace.

However, 200-kilometres of racing through London and the hilly Surrey countryside, made famous by the 2012 London Olympics, seperate the riders from their hopes and dreams.

Anyone who is looking to put the sprinters into difficulty, or escape off the front of the pack and ride away to a surprise victory will need to do it during the middle third of the race.

Beginning with the ascent of Leth Hill, the riders will then tackle the climb to Ranmore three times before finishing off with the infamous Box Hill 50-kilometres.

We will have to wait and see how the addition of an extra climb will affect the race compared to last year’s parcours using the Ranmore circuit.

However, in combination with the small, six-man teams and lack of race radios, the race’s 1.HC classification the extra ascent should give opportunistic non-sprinters a greater chance riding away to a surprise victory.

Should the race comes back together before the finish as it has in other years, then a bunch sprint on The Mall will once again decide the day’s victor.

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Several teams have come to the race banking on history to repeat itself, bringing with them not only sprinters but lead-out trains as well.

However, that hasn’t stopped some teams, such as BMC Racing, from bringing a few jokers to try and upset the pack.

The local favourite for the race will be Etixx, Quick-Step’s Mark Cavendish, who will be looking to return to winning ways after coming out on top in just one stage at the 2015 Tour de France.

Accompanying the ‘Manx Missile’ will be regular lead-out man Mark Renshaw, Fabio Sabatini, Iljo Keisse, Yves Lampaert and new Colombian stagiaire, Fernando Gaviria.

Meanwhile, Sky Pro Cycling also bring a competitive team to their home race that will be spearheaded by Italian sprinter Elia Viviani and British sprinter Ben Swift, who returns from injury. Supporting the duo will be Chris Sutton, Andrew Fenn, Bernhard Eisel and new British stagiaire Alex Peters.

British sprinter and defending champion Adam Blythe returns with ORICA GreenEDGE to defend his title and try to make it back-to-back victories at the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

The Australian outfit will be supporting the Brit’s ambitions with a strong sprint train comprised of Leigh Howard, Magnus Cort, Sam Bewley, Michael Hepburn and Jens Mouris.

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Fresh off a successful debut at the Tour de France MTN Qhubeka will be looking to continue their streak of positive publicity and attract a new title sponsor after the withdrawal of South African telephone company MTN. With Kristian Sbaragli, Gerald Ciolek, Tyler Farrar and Theo Bos all attending the African Pro-Continental outfit certainly won’t be lacking for firepower in the sprint.

The lowland teams of Lotto Soudal and Lotto NL-Jumbo will also be a threat with Jurgen Roelandts, Jens Debusschere, Sep Vanmarcke, Barry Markus and Moreno Hofland.

The other sprinters will need to be wary of Lotto Soudal’s Jurgen Roelandts throughout the race as the Belgian is both a classics specialist and capable sprinter when not leading out Andre Greipel.

The joker in the pack will be BMC Racing’s Philippe Gilbert, who finished second at the 2015 Clasica San Sebastian.

A specialist at hilly classics the Belgian superstar posses a decent sprint if he cannot successfully attack during the hilly part of the race. In combination with attacks from Rohan Dennis and Jean-Pierre Drucker, the American team can keep their rivals on the back foot.

However, lurking in the shadows hoping to upset their more illustrious competitors for a second year running will be NFTO with Australian sprinter Steele Von Hoff, who will be hoping to earn himself another shot at a World Tour contract.

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