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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Lawrence Ostlere

Ben Swift third in 2015 RideLondon-Surrey Classic – as it happened

RideLondon cyclists pass Big Ben.
RideLondon cyclists pass Big Ben. Photograph: Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock/Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock

That’s all from me, stick around on the site for the race report and reaction. Bye!

Classification top three

  1. Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC)
  2. Mike Teunissen (NL Lotto-Jumbo)
  3. Ben Swift (Team Sky)
BMC Racing Team’s Jean Pierre Drucker celebrates after winning the London-Surrey Classic ahead of Team Lotto NL-Jumbo’s Mike Teunissen and Sky’s Ben Swift.
BMC Racing Team’s Jean Pierre Drucker celebrates after winning the London-Surrey Classic ahead of Team Lotto NL-Jumbo’s Mike Teunissen and Sky’s Ben Swift. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA

Updated

Jean-Pierre Drucker on his win: “I tried to keep on his [Ben Swift’s] wheel and just focus on him. We tried to move it on and do a hard race – and it was perfect.”

That was a clever bit of decision-making by the BMC rider from Luxembourg, sitting on Ben Swift’s wheel and waiting until the final 100m to swing out from behind the Briton and attack the line. Mike Teunissen followed him all the way to the line but couldn’t quite get past – another 10 metres and the 22-year-old might have done.

Jean-Pierre Drucker wins the 2015 RideLondon-Surrey Classic!

The riders dip under the flamme rouge and the foursome turn onto The Mall. The race is on for the line, who will attack first... Swift leads them to the final 500m and they all go, heads down driving for the finish. Drucker gets there!

Swift, Drucker and Teunissen attack as a trio and catch Vanmarcke, who tags onto the back. It’s these between these four for the win, surel

3km to go

BMC’s Drucker ups the pace and Swift has to go with the move! They are within 10sec of Vanmarcke now, can they bring him in?

Vanmarcke bobs from side to side, grinding his way towards the finish. A little grimace appears on the Belgian’s face. Ben Swift is still well placed for Team Sky and if he can stay in touch he will be a serious contender in a sprint.

Vanmarcke hits the sundrenched embankment of the Thames and heads for home. He has only a 15sec lead now – does he have 5km left in his legs?

That gap has opened up to 20sec. Teunissen tags onto the back of the chasers but is happy to let his team-mate go for the win. Swift and the other five riders are working hard to bring Vanmarcke back – who is almost knocked off his bike by a motorcyclist attempting to pass on some information. The Belgian throws his arm up in frustration and rides on with 7km to go.

10km to go

Vanmarcke has opened up a little gap of 16sec at the front now. He isn’t going to win a sprint and he’s well aware of that, so he’s throwing the sink at this move and going for the line from way out! The race is nearing Putney Bridge as the riders head back towards central London.

Another attack, and it’s Sep Vanmarcke who hits the front and the NL-Jumbo rider has moved clear on his own. He has a team-mate in the break – Teunissen – but leaves him behind. Ben Swift reacts and chases hard. 12km to go.

Updated

Swift kicks away and two riders follow, but the other five react quickly to close the gap.

The leaders: Swift, Howard, Drucker, Vanmarcke, Sbaragli, Gaviria, Van Rooy and Teunissen – 15km to go.

Updated

The leaders ride more than a minute and a half clear and the winner will surely come from this pack. Ben Swift looks comfortable as he takes a stint on the nose.

20km to go

The peloton appears to be happy enough to let the breakaway go. Unless a chase forms pretty quickly then the romantic image of Wiggins storming home to win in London won’t come to fruition this time. For Cavendish too, his race may well be run.

Another in the break is Fernando Gaviria. The talented 20-year-old Colombian is a quality sprinter for Etixx QuickStep and the rest of the escapees will be well aware of his threat if it came down to a dash along The Mall.

The final breakaway?

The eight leaders are made up from several different teams and includes Team Sky’s Ben Swift. The Briton was pipped on the line last year by Adam Blythe on The Mall but has got himself in position to go one step better this time. Leigh Howard, Jean-Pierre Drucker, Sep Vanmarcke and Kristian Sbaragli are also at the front, but Mark Cavendish is back in the peloton along with Wiggins and the rest, 42sec back with 30km to go.

After several attacks and counterattacks, a settled group of eight riders appear committed to a breakaway 35km from the finish. I’ll try and clear up exactly who is in the pack...

BMC’s break is quashed and a fresh attack forms. Who’s in it, you ask? Get this:

Etixx react decisively and start to work hard on the front of the peloton to close the gap to the front group of around 15 riders, with Cavendish protected behind them, as they reach the top of Box Hill.

This is very interesting. Gilbert and Rohan slow a little and a bunch of around 12 riders join them. BMC’s plan is to up the pace and fracture the field, to prevent a procession towards The Mall which would suit Mark Cavendish and the other pure sprinters – 50km to go.

Updated

And here’s Gilbert: the former world champion hits the front of the peloton in his red and black BMC colours with team-mate Rohan Dennis alongside him as they push on past the breakaway. With 50km to go, the original break has ended and new phase has begun. Gilbert tucks in behind Dennis.

Team Sky lead the peloton to within 20sec of the breakaway group and as they do so, Gerts is being drawn back to them. The riders are about to take on Box Hill, a 3km climb with 163m of ascent at 5% average gradient.

Timo Roosen and Karol Domagalski join up with the leaders who are now only 25sec clear of the peloton... but they are not the leaders anymore: 23-year-old Dutch rider Floris Gerts has broken clear on his own. This may be part of a plan to help BMC’s lead rider Philippe Gilbert, but it’s impressive nonetheless from Gerts and he looks entirely conformable on his own as he rides through Dorking for the final time with 58km to go.

The peloton is within a minute of the breakaway five now, and sweep ominously around a tight left corner in the Surrey countryside, quickly reeling in those ahead.

Oh dear. The breakaway is crumbling before us and their lead is quickly falling away as they glance at each other ruefully. Could we have done more, argued less, had more us-time? their gazes seem to ask.

Erick Rowsell darts away from his fellow breakaway-ers and grabs a few more King the Mountains points. He’s 1min 11sec clear of the peloton where things are finally being stirred up, as Lotto-Jumbo attack – 70km to go.

Crash! Several riders hit the road and Lotto Soudal’s Kenny Dehaes walks away in some pain holding his arm.

At the latest sprint point Stacchiotti gets there first to claim the points ahead of Williams. It’s remarkable Pete Williams is even up there given his ever-growing list of punctures and chain issues. Two minutes back down the road in the peloton, Team Wiggins move closer to the front.

Gerts has made his counterattack stick and joins up at the front with Rowsell, Williams, Stacchiotti and Helven. He bounds straight to the front a little over-exuberantly for his new buddies’ liking, who have been riding hard all day and don’t fancy upping the pace.

Updated

This is bad news for Orica GreenEdge and last year’s winner, Adam Blythe, who has a problem and calls for the race doctor.

BMC’s Gerts shoots out the front of the peloton in an effort to close up the gap to the leaders. The race is a little stuck in this phase with British rider Rowsell and the Italian, Stacchiotti, out in front. They’ve opened up a lead of more than two minutes from the peloton and around one minute from the other chasers.

Updated

Rowsell sprints for the next set of King of the Mountain points and Stacchiotti, the Vini Fantini rider, tries to go with him. Rowsell has too much for the Italian and reaches the top first. As he slows to soak up the victory Stacchiotti zips past on the outside as if trying to make a break for it, and Rowsell has to put down the hammer to keep pace. The two of them move away together and build a little lead now off the front of the rest of the breakaway. They have 1min 31sec from the peloton.

Yet more problems for Pete Williams up front:

Wiggins looks pretty relaxed at the back of the peloton taking on some fuel as they sweep across a roundabout and into the hills again.

The second sprint of the race is seriously contested between Pete Williams and Riccardo Stacchiotti and they are wheel-to-wheel over the line. Very difficult to tell which rider crossed first...

The leaders pass the 100km point halfway through the race. Team Sky and Etixx QuickStep are on the nose tugging everyone else along as the peloton try to reel in the breakaway, which is 1min 11sec clear.

Updated

David Millar is whizzing alongside the breakaway riders and offering his insight, which is quite entertaining to watch. He reckons Pete Williams has “had to go deep” to in order to rejoin the breakaway, and after a patchy period they are all back together again.

Updated

Pete Williams has another mechanical. He has a problem with his chain and the Briton, without his team car anywhere near, is forced to fix his bike up himself and work hard to get back in touch. Soon afterwards Erick Rowsell decides to make a dash for it up front, knowing there are plenty of King of the Mountains points available for him over this middle section of the race.

The escapees have begun the first of three loops of a 20km circuit which takes in Dorking and Westcott, before heading north to take on the zig-zags of Box Hill.

Updated

Here are the leaders climbing in the Surrey Hills:

Williams has dealt with his puncture and he’s back in the race. Adam Blythe, last year’s winner in horrible conditions, can be seen well placed near the front of the peloton on the shoulder of his team-mates as they try to keep in touch with the leaders. The gap is down to 2min 2sec.

The riders are through 90km after around 2hr 20min, if that helps?

The gap from the peloton to the breakaway (Helven, Rowsell, Seynaeve, Stacchiotti and Williams) is 2min 55sec... but Pete Williams has picked up a puncture. Will the other four wait, or ditch him? A conversation is under way amongst the group, no doubt a little awkwardly, before he lags back to receive mechanical attention.

A little sprint ensues in the lead group for the King of the Mountains points on offer. British rider Erick Rowsell gets there first and picks up the maximum six, before the quintet reconvene and continue their break.

The sun is out in Surrey as Orica GreenEdge take the lead on the front of the peloton to the top of Leith Hill. Wiggins, Cavendish and the rest file behind. The breakaway-ers are gliding down towards Westhumble around four minutes clear.

That breakaway time gap has been updated and has fallen a little:

The five up front work together in a neat double paceline. They are out into the narrow Surrey country lanes, semi-shaded by high trees either side as they climb Leith Hill. The peloton has just passed though the town of Dorking on the chase, around five minutes back. Richard Cutler, meanwhile, looks to have spotted Cavendish, or most of him:

Mark Cavendish told the BBC moments before the race that he has been suffering an ongoing sickness this week after the Tour de France, and isn’t feeling tip-top. He’s going OK for now though, tucked in behind his team-mates near the front of the peloton.

Some of the best images from the early going:

Riders head out into Surrey.
Riders head out into Surrey. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
The field ride through Richmond Park.
The field ride through Richmond Park. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
The riders pass Harrods in west London.
The riders pass Harrods in west London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

The breakaway has opened up a substantial lead at this early stage, with nearly five minutes in hand. The names in the escape: Helven, Rowsell, Seynaeve, Stacchiotti and Williams.

Updated

Etixx QuickStep hit the front of the peloton. There are only six riders per team in this race which makes it a little harder to control things, and should in theory make the race less predictable. But Etixx want to establish some control: Cavendish has caught up with the peloton after his early mechanical and his team-mates will want to line him up for a sprint on The Mall.

Updated

The quintet to have ridden clear are 28sec ahead of the chasing bunch. Up front with Erick Rowsell is fellow Briton Peter Williams, the 28-year-old One Pro Cycling rider.

The peloton is around 50km through this 200km race and nearing Leith Hill, the highest point of the race at 250m.

Updated

Meanwhile, the person in charge of the Transport for London’s official traffic-busting twitter account has run out of ideas and gone into meltdown:

Cavendish is back on his bike after Etixx QuickStep got their fix on. He is well known to be particularly picky over his bike’s composition and has made a couple of chain changes already this year, so this latest problem might leave him a bit fed up. It certainly leaves him with some catching up to do:

British Madison Genesis rider Erick Rowsell is in a new fivesome of escapees as they head towards Weybridge. I went to a nice pub in Weybridge once, but I can’t remember the name of it. Not my best anecdote.

It’s all happening around Mark Cavendish as he suffers a mechanical:

The peloton has been stretched by that attack and several others as the riders on the front seek to ratchet up the tempo. Plenty of fans line the streets, not quite at Olympic-esque fervour levels, but there is plenty of enthusiasm for this race. Not everyone is that excited, mind:

Timo Roosen, Giacomo Berlato and Kristian House are the riders with Cavendish in the getaway – but just like that they are swallowed back up by the peloton.

A breakaway has formed as the peloton nears Bushy Park and here’s something: Mark Cavendish is in it. The Etixx sprinter is in a group of four that have ridden a little clear of the rest.

By the way, there is a documentary tonight about Chris Froome’s Tour de France win which looks like it will be a good watch. Not sure I should be plugging other media outlets but hey, here you are:

After snaking over Chiswick Bridge without incident the peloton closes in on Richmond Park as one.

Team Wiggins’ Sir Bradley Wiggins (rear) and Etixx-Quick Step’s Mark Cavendish roll out at the start from Horse Guards Parade.
Team Wiggins’ Sir Bradley Wiggins (rear) and Etixx-Quick Step’s Mark Cavendish roll out at the start from Horse Guards Parade. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA
The peloton begins with the backdrop of the London Eye.
The peloton begins with the backdrop of the London Eye. Photograph: Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock/Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock

Updated

Here was the man himself shortly before the race started:

As a quick aside here’s a shameless plea to sponsor our web editor, James Dart, who took on the RideLondon 100 today to raise money for Youth Sport Trust: “This is an important cause and I wanted to put my opportunity to ride in the event to some good use. I’ll likely be the lanterne rouge, but please don’t let that put you off sponsoring me. I would obviously be hugely grateful for any money that I can raise.” Go on, sponsor him here.

Italian rider Francesco Cipolletta was first over the line in the amateur event earlier today, while Briton Brian Aldis won the hand cycle race:

While things bob along at the start of this 200km race, here’s Suze Clemitson with her preview of the Surrey Classic:

The RideLondon Surrey Classic is the most testing one-day race on British roads this year and in a strong lineup one name stands out: Sir Bradley Wiggins. All eyes will be on Team Wiggo, who race in retro red and blue jerseys that echo the colours once sported by the all-conquering Great Britain team. Sunday’s race provides a rare chance to see the 2012 Tour de France champion on the roads where he claimed Olympic time-trial gold also that year.

With retirement looming in the not too distant future, the cyclist who became a national treasure with his rakish Mod style says it is a “big moment” for his team of young talents to ride alongside Classics specialists such as Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert. But the thousands who flock to the roadside will be hoping to see one more flash of Wiggo magic.

Another of Britain’s cycling superstars to feature on the rolling Surrey hills is Mark Cavendish, who lines up for his Etixx-Quick-Step team alongside Sky’s fast men Ben Swift and the Giro stage winner Elia Viviani. All of them will be looking to take the win in the Mall. The Ardenne-type terrain of the North Downs will suit Boonen and Gilbert.

Updated

They are under way at St James’s Park:

Given what’s gone before there is some understandable cynicism around cycling but this afternoon there could be a more unusual type of controversy, according to this isolated tweet we’ve received anyway:

Updated

The 200km route

The 246 riders start at Horse Guards Parade in St James’s Park and head away from the city past Hyde Park, across the Thames at Chiswick Bridge and out south-west. After Richmond Park come Kingston Bridge and Hampton Court Bridge, before the peloton move south into the Surrey Hills where things get a little steeper. Leith Hill is the highest point of the race (250m) as they spin north towards Dorking and wind up the famous Box Hill, before heading back towards London over Putney Bridge. The race swings round behind The Mall where, with any luck, a ding-dong for the line will ensue.

Updated

Preamble

Ahoy there! What a line-up we have. If this was a music festival and the Tour de France was Glastonbury, then we’d be at LoveBox or Wireless right now (something not as long but still great is what I’m getting at). The headline act is pretty rock’n’roll too: the fastest mod on two wheels is back on the streets of London (and Surrey) and Sir Bradley Wiggins is going for the win to add another small chapter to the end of a remarkable career.

In his way, perhaps literally, will be Etixx QuickStep who have another British cycling great, Mark Cavendish, primed for a sprint along the Mall. Team Wiggo will also have to get by the intimidating frame of Tom Boonen, a classics specialist; he and fellow Belgian Philippe Gilbert, the former world champion for BMC, aren two of the bigger names on the start sheet and probably the greatest threats to an otherwise good British win like last year.

The 2014 race was a thriller as Adam Blythe pipped Ben Swift in an all-Yorkshire dash to the line. Both are back, Swift heading Team Sky following successful shoulder surgery and Blythe riding for Orica GreenEdge, a move he earned from his win in London 12 months ago, and the 25-year-old returns eager to defend his title. “OK, it’s not like I won the worlds or anything,” Blythe had summed up afterwards, eyes wide and cheeks puffing, “but this is a very big race for a British rider to win, especially in this setting in front of the Queen’s house. I hope she was watching.”

Updated

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