Preview: RideLondon Classique 2023

A sprinter’s paradise and a start list stacked with fast riders awaits this weekend in the UK. Now in its second year as an expanded stage race, RideLondon Classique returns to the roads of Essex and London for a typically flat and fast trio of stages. With no Lorena Wiebes, it will be a new winner crowned on the Mall on Sunday, but who can step up to the mantle? Will Wiebes’ prodigy Charlotte Kool repeat her success, or will Elisa Balsamo find her winning legs again?

Previous winners

2022: Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM)

2019: Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg)

2018: Kirsten Wild (Wiggle High5)

Velo Collection (Justin Setterfield) / Getty Images

Lorena Wiebes topped the podium in the 2022 edition of the RideLondon Classique.

The route

The route for this year’s RideLondon Classique is similar to the route for its inaugural edition as a stage race, taking in two road stages in Essex before a final circuit race in central London. Host town Maldon is back again, whilst Saffron Walden and Colchester are new stops on the route. Owing to the terrain in Essex, the racing is all quite flat, but there are a few kickers to contend with across the weekend.

Stage 1: Saffron Walden → Colchester (149.7km)

Veloviewer

RideLondon Classique 2023 stage 1 profile.

Friday’s opening stage starts in Saffron Walden before heading east to Colchester, one of the largest cities in Essex. There are three categorised climbs on the route, but with distances varying from 300m to 700m and manageable gradients, they’ll be more for chasing mountains jersey points rather than impacting the race. It’s a really flat 30km run in to the finish, and the road rises slightly in the last 500m to the line, but shouldn’t be enough to trouble the best sprinters.

Stage favourites: Charlotte Kool, Elisa Balsamo, Chiara Consonni

Stage 2: Maldon → Maldon (137.1km)

Veloviewer

RideLondon Classique 2023 stage 2 profile.

Stage 2 starts and finishes in the coastal town of Maldon, and offers a slightly more complicated parcours than stage 1. The first half of the stage is a loop out to the countryside, and the second half sees the riders take on a loop around Maldon, featuring the 800m North Hill. This loop is prime for attacking racing and if a strong move goes, it could be hard to bring back - but the sprint teams will be trying. You may be thinking that being near the coast, wind could be a factor, but British roads are traditionally much less exposed thanks to the shelter of hedgerows, so whilst cross and headwinds may affect the racing, don’t expect full on echelons.

Stage favourites: Charlotte Kool, Elisa Balsamo, Clara Copponi

Stage 3: London (The Mall) → London (The Mall) (92km)

Veloviewer

RideLondon Classique 2023 stage 3 profile.

Stage 3 goes back to RideLondon’s roots a one-day race with a central London circuit. It’s a flat and fast route, but it can be technical in places on the twisty London streets so positioning and good crit racing skills are essential. A bunch sprint is expected, but this won’t be a straightforward day, with many riders taking advantage of the shorter length to race aggressively and try to send threatening groups up the road. The finishing straight along the river is long and wide, perfect bunch finish terrain, but riders will need to know how to launch at the right time.

Stage favourites: Charlotte Kool, Elisa Balsamo, Chiara Consonni, Shari Bossuyt

The contenders

As expected, the start list for this year’s RideLondon Classique is a big who’s who of sprinters, with one notable exception: Lorena Wiebes will not be there to defend her clean sweep of stage results from 2022, as SD Worx are skipping this race in favour of the LOTTO Thüringen Tour. Without Wiebes, the field is perhaps slightly more open, so we’re expecting some close fights.

The rider with the best chance of repeating Wiebes’ success is her Team DSM successor Charlotte Kool. Since Wiebes left the team and final lead-out rider Kool was promoted to sprinter, she has been the only rider capable of beating Wiebes in an out-and-out bunch sprint, and is a serious threat to the European champion’s hopes of total dominance. With probably the fastest kick in the bunch, and the very best of DSM’s dialled lead-out lining up alongside her, it would be no great surprise to see Kool win multiple if not all three stages in Essex and London this weekend.

Velo Collection (Tim de Waele) / Getty Images

Charlotte Kool beat Lorena Wiebes on two stages of the UAE Tour in February.

Her closest contender will be Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo), who is coming to RideLondon off of a string of second places behind Lorena Wiebes in the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas. The Italian has had a slightly underwhelming spring so far, often settling for the podium and not taking a win since Valenciana in February, so she will be hoping to notch up a win here. She has a good team around her, including powerhouse Lisa Klein and lead-out specialist Ilaria Sanguineti, so her chances are good. We’ve not seen Balsamo and Kool go head-to-head on many occasions, so the opening stage should tell us a lot about how they’re lining up.

The claim on the third best sprinter on the RideLondon Classique start sheet is a little more contested. Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) is likely the fastest on paper, and has the strong ex-Valcar, now UAE Team ADQ lead-out train to help her. She had a consistent run of results at this race last year, and looks well-placed to upgrade those top fives to top threes this year. Canyon-SRAM are bringing an impressive trio of riders in Shari Bossuyt, Chloé Dygert and Maike van der Duin, any and all of whom should be contesting in the top five.

Velo Collection (Dario Belingheri) / Getty Images

Chloé Dygert was rubbing shoulders with Lorena Wiebes in the sprints at the Vuelta a Burgos last week.

Outside of the main favourites, there’s a big list of riders who will be fighting for top 10s and top fives: keep an eye out for Arianna Fidanza (Ceratizit-WNT), FDJ-SUEZ’s Gladys Verhulst and Clara Copponi, Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing TeqFind), and almost all of Uno-X’s team, including Susanne Andersen, Amalie Dideriksen and Elinor Barker.

There aren’t that many chances for the non-sprinters in this race, but a lot of riders will be looking for ways to get in on the action, whether it’s in breakaways or chasing jersey points. Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) was a big animator at this race last year, and without a sprinter, her team should give her some freedom to go on the attack again this year. Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) is also making her return to UK racing at this race, and whilst she’ll be on ushering duty for Balsamo most of the time, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Brit try out something on home roads and the site of her Olympic silver medal.

GCN's preview pick

Velo Collection (Dario Belingheri) / Getty Images

Charlotte Kool took victory on stage 2 of La Vuelta Fememina.

She may be the obvious choice, but we’re going all-in on Charlotte Kool to take the overall at this race. Her speed and kick is second to none on this start list, and she’s proved she’s on a similar level to Lorena Wiebes this year, so why can’t she replicate her former teammate’s success? Even if she can’t win all the stages - and it’s a big if, we’d back her to do the triple - she’ll almost certainly be in the top three on every stage, and it’s her consistent good finishes that will earn her the overall title. Charlotte Kool is the next best sprinter, and this is her chance to really solidify that status.

Lizzie Deignan

• Team Lidl-Trek
• Nationality United Kingdom
• Age 35
• UCI Wins 41
• Height 1.68m