From 26 to 28 May the RideLondon Classique will take place. The three-day UCI Women’s WorldTour race was previously a one-day race in the Centre of London, but in 2022 it became a three-day race covering parts of Essex and London.
The peloton will start in Saffron Walden for an undulating stage to Colchester. After a hilly part in the stage the final 25 km are flat, where there is a possibility for echelons. Also on the second day their can be echelons when the peloton travels from Maldon to Abberton and back to Maldon, where three laps of 22 km are waiting for the riders. The third and final stage will start and finish on The Mall in London and suits the pure sprinters.
Liv Racing TeqFind will start with Rachele Barbieri, Eva Buurman, Thalita de Jong, Jeanne Korevaar, Katia Ragusa and Silke Smulders.
“After the Vuelta I took a little break and started training again in Calpe. Last weekend I returned to racing in The Netherlands. That were two fast races, which both finished in a sprint. We could learn a lot about the lead-out for Rachele. These things we can take with us to London. I think we are close to the podium and it will be one of our goals in this race to reach that podium”, Smulders said.
“The first and second stage will be hard stages and I want ride aggressive there. When a group attacks, I want to be there and see how far we can go. In case the stage will end in a sprint, we will do a lead-out for Rachele of course. But multiple scenarios are possible in these stages and we have to be ready for that. For sure the final day will end in a bunch sprint, so then we will have to be committed to do a proper lead-out for Rachele”, concluded Smulders.
Stages
26/05, stage 1: Saffron Walden – Colchester (149.7 km)
27/05, stage 2: Maldon – Maldon (137.1 km)
28/05, stage 3: London – London (92 km)