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Event Review: Prudential RideLondon

August 24, 2024

The Prudential RideLondon weekend was a mass celebration of cycling in the heart of the capital. It showcased cycling at all different levels, with something for everyone.

Saturday was a beautiful summer’s day which saw over 60,000 people of all ages take part in the RideLondon FreeCycle, a 10-mile traffic-free route around Westminster and the City. Families, friends, and amateur cyclists on bicycles of various shapes and sizes turned out to enjoy the experience and to attend the Cycle Show at the Excel Centre, and the Festival in Green Park.

The day was rounded off with circuit races around St James’s Park, with an iconic finish on The Mall. In the women’s elite race, which saw the fastest road racers in the hotly contested race, Team Wiggle Honda’s Giorgia Bronzini won in a last gasp sprint for the line. This was a coup for the Italian team mate of defending champion, Laura Trott, who beat World Road Race Champion (and London 2012 Olympic Champion) Marianne Vos by a quarter of a wheel.

“I wanted to win badly. It is so amazing to win here in such a historic city and in front of these amazing buildings.”

Said an ecstatic Bronzini. “We wanted to put on a good show in our racing today and I am happy we did that. What I did today was because of the support of my team.” The podium was completed by newly crowned Commonwealth Road Race Champion, Lizzie Armitstead.

Sunday, by contrast was a difficult day in the saddle for the riders who set out from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to tackle the RideLondon-Surrey 100 under torrential rain.

Given the predicted storms and floods, organisers made the difficult decision to remove the climbs up Box Hill and Leith Hill from the route, thus reducing the ride to 86 miles from the original 100.

These conditions failed to deter the 20,000-odd keen cyclists who snaked their way through the rain-sodden streets of South London and Surrey. Judging from their reactions, the riders seemed happy with their “adventure”, and basked in a sense of achievement once they had dried off in the much welcomed afternoon sunshine.

Sportsister caught up with various riders who took part in the Prudential RideLondon weekend.

Lois Dowsett (below) took part in the RideLondon FreeCycle

“We wanted to do a training ride before the RideLondon 100, so we thought what better time to do the FreeCycle! There are so many people on bikes, and so many kids out, even people who wouldn’t normally be on bikes. We have seen a lot of people on Boris Bikes. We are a cycling family. We never used to be, but we got into it when my brother Alex [2014 Commonwealth Time Trial Champion] became successful. I haven’t done as much training as I’d wanted to for the 100-mile sportive but I did it last year and I loved it. I’ll be motivated by the fact that I’m riding with my dad. I didn’t get to ride it with him last year, so it’s nice to do so this year. I raised money for the haemophilia society, as Alex suffers from haemophilia. When people have given money to sponsor you feel motivated to finish.”

Hannah Ormesher (below) DID Electrical Racing Team took part in the RideLondon Grand Prix

“It was phenomenal to line up with the likes of Marianne Vos and Lizzie Armitstead at the RideLondon Grand Prix. This is the first time I have raced at this level so it was good to see just how tough it actually is out there, compared with local league races. It was a really good taster for racing against world class athletes. Prior to the race I tried to get myself in the zone and calm down by warming up on the turbo trainer and listening to my favourite music over the headphones. I then crossed my fingers and hoped for the best! You had to be first through the corners otherwise you’d lose your place and it’s a lot harder to keep up with the group. I could have done a lot better, but I’m happy anyway. The crowds were buzzing.”

Francia Dirand (below left) took part in the RideLondon-Surrey 100

“This was the first time I was doing this sort of thing. It was wet and painful as I have a knee problem and it got a bit worse. Other than the rain I would do it again. It was right to cut out the two hills. There were a lot of people and some of the places were waterlogged. The hardest part for me was when I was just under 40 miles into the ride. It was a bit of a challenge but at no point did I think of quitting. I was pleased with my time because I stopped quite a few times to eat, to chat.”

Andrea Moffat (below right) took part in the RideLondon-Surrey 100

“It was an excellent event and really well organised. I didn’t expect the weather to be as bad as it was but I just put my head down and only stopped a couple of times to fill up my water bottle. At one point the rain was so bad it was hard to see in front of you. I wanted to just get it over with. The worst part was probably after about 50km. I’d been cycling quickly for the first couple of hours but then I just hit the wall, so I had to eat loads of sweets and gels and drink loads of water. That was the furthest I’d ever ridden.”

Tracey Woolmore (below left) took part in the RideLondon-Surrey 100

“We had thunder and lightning, flooding, everything! So the fact that anyone would finish this is nothing short of a miracle! I felt lucky to have had no punctures or mishaps. The fact that so many of us were doing it meant we encouraged each other along. When you pass little villages and you see people standing in the pouring rain cheering you on you think, ‘well if they’ve come out to cheer you along the least you can do is try and complete it’. It’s true, we trained to ride the London-Surrey 100, not 86! But when we were out there in those conditions riding down Leith Hill is just too dangerous.”

Helen Hopka (below right) took part in the RideLondon-Surrey 100

“It was very wet, I’m very tired, but it was brilliant. It’s a shame we missed the 14 miles. When there’s thunder and lightning you get a little concerned but I just kept going, knowing I would get to the end and it would be an achievement. I did this because I am a big fan of guide dogs. They need a lot of help and it is a worthy cause to raise some money for the guide dogs charity. It was definitely an achievement for me, though it felt like it took me all day to ride it!”

Interested in taking part next year? Click here for more information

Maria David, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

 

 

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