Four British riders – David Millar (Garmin-Sharp), Ben Swift (Team Sky) and Orica-GreenEDGE duo Simon and Adam Yates – have been confirmed for the 2014 RideLondon-Surrey Classic on Sunday August 10.
The 2012 world road race champion, Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing, and Garmin-Sharp’s Dan Martin will also start the race and the duo, both former winners of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, could favour the revised route, which features multiple laps of a hilly Surrey circuit expected to produce more aggressive racing than the inaugural edition, won in a bunch sprint by Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr).
Swift registered a top ten finish in last year’s race and will return with Team Sky, while Millar, who will arrive in London after competing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, will make one of his final appearances on British soil in what is the 37-year-old’s last season as a professional cyclist.
Meanwhile, Adam and Simon Yates have emerged as two of the sport’s leading talents in 2014, and the twins will both feature in the Orica-GreenEDGE squad for the 200km race, which will start in the Olympic Park and finish on The Mall.
Adam won the Tour of Turkey in May, before finishing fifth in the Tour of California and sixth in the Critérium du Dauphiné, while Simon made his Tour de France debut earlier this month and made his mark on the race by feature in two stage-long breakaways.
A number of sprinters will also start the RideLondon-Surrey Classic, including Cannondale Pro Cycling’s Elia Viviani, 2013 Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek (MTN Qhubeka) and rising Irish star Sam Bennett of NetApp-Endura, who has won three races this year since signing for the ProContinental team.
The race, which will be preceded by the RideLondon 100 sportive, has been upgraded to 1.HC status by the UCI for 2014 and will be covered live on BBC1 and British Eurosport, and shown internationally in more than 160 countries worldwide.
RideLondon 2014 – television schedule
Saturday August 10, 2014
5pm – LIVE – Prudential RideLondon Women’s Grand Prix
Sunday August 11, 2014
1.30pm – Prudential RideLondon Women’s Grand Prix
2.30pm – LIVE – RideLondon-Surrey Classic
10.15pm – RideLondon-Surrey Classic
