Women’s WorldTour racing resumes after the Spanish trio of races with the peloton heading to Britain for the RideLondon Classique and revamped Tour of Britain Women before closing back in on Grand Tour racing at the Giro in July and Tour in August. Starting with RideLondon this Friday, May 24, it remains a three-day race as it has been since its post-COVID-19 pandemic resumption in and around Essex and London with a parcours best suited to the fastest sprinters. It gives all teams a great opportunity to fully test the limits of their lead-out trains up the iconic Mall in London and will allow some of the faster riders to find their way onto the top step overall of a WorldTour stage race.
Both previous winners of the race in the three-day format we know will be present at the 2023 race; Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL). As former teammates at DSM, Kool used to be Wiebes’ last lead-out rider, such as in 2022 when she took the overall victory in London, so they know each other very well. They’ve come to be close rivals in sprints for the past two seasons but we haven’t seen the battle much in 2024 due to illness for Kool so this race should provide at least two guaranteed opportunities on stages 1 and 3.
While Wiebes will be the heavy favourite for overall victory with Kool right behind her, there will be plenty of other top sprinters and punchy riders hoping to beat the top women’s team in the world, SD Worx-Protime. Cyclingnew.