RideLondon Classic

Seeming as this new "classic" passes by the end of my road I thought it would be rude not to write a preview. They have fiddled with the route this year and now the race comes in at 193km instead of 220km from last year, the climbs are relatively similar though and it should put a bit of tiredness into sprinters legs.

This is an unofficial profile "RideLondon-Surrey Classic Profile 2014" by Clive Jones which you can find more of on the 2014 wiki for this race here.

The two previous iterations of this race have ended in bunch sprints and this is the most likely scenario again even with apocalyptic weather. I'd be surprised if we get a winner from one of the smaller GB teams as there is a bit of a gulf in speed so for me these are the contenders;

Ben Swift - just endured a crash fest in Poland and in four sprint stages did not get in the top 150...
Mark Renshaw - Solid form from the TDF and commonwealths
Caleb Ewan - this guy has so much talent. gutsy ride in the commonwealths and Team Aus probably would have backed him over Renshaw had that race come to a sprint.
Elia Viviani - Just come off the TDF where he was working for Sagan but in theory one of the fastest here.
Sam Bennett - out performed expectations in debut season at NetApp and has been pretty consistent.
Michael Van Staeyen - Topsport rider who doesn't have the same top end speed as the above but is a threat.
Jonas Ahlstrand - Argos rider whose obviously irritated by lack of opportunities and is joining the Bouhanni project at Cofidis next year, hard to see how he wins this though.
Kristian Sbaragli - Major outsider but this is often a bit of a weird sprint, plus he rides for the team which carries the name of one of my blog charities.


For me its going to be Bennett or Viviani.

I'm backing Bennett at 16s 0.75pts ew at 16/1, Sbaragli 0.2pts ew at 200/1 both with Betvictor.

A break of sprinters got away and stayed away, Bennett was in in but popped and came 6th sadly. All bets down