Gerard Ciolek (MTN Qhubeka), who in March won the most brutal edition of Milan San Remo for decades, is targeting victory in today’s inaugural RideLondon-Surrey Classic.
The German, who outsprinted Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling), another of the star names on today’s start list, to claim the biggest victory of his career in a snow-hit La Primavera, said winning in London was “a big goal” for his South African team.
But the six-man squads sent by some of the biggest teams in world cycling will not be handed the race on a plate by the British outfits, Yanto Barker, leader of Tour Series winners, Team UK Youth, has vowed.
And race organisers Sweetspot have warned the domestic squads that today’s race will decide the final places for September’s Tour of Britain.
Some 150 riders will roll out of the Olympic Park this morning onto a 220km route based heavily on the parcours of the London 2012 road race, taking in the Surrey climbs of Box Hill and Leith Hill before finishing on The Mall.
Ciolek, one of a host of German sprint stars to have dominated the biggest races on this season’s WorldTour calendar, alongside Tour de France stage winners, Marcel Kittel (Argos Shimano) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), said he was targeting victory today.
“You want to win all the races you go to,” Ciolek told a pre-race press conference. “You want to perform well.
“It’s not a small race. It’s one of the big races of the season. It’s been a goal for us since the beginning of the season.”
The German, who also won stage six of this year’s Tour of Austria, said today’s race was likely to be decided by a bunch sprint on The Mall.
Asked if he could win in this scenario, Ciolek replied: “That’s what we are here for.
“I think we have a good chance to have a good result in the sprint and that’s what we will go for.”
Should the race come down to a sprint in front of Buckingham Palace, Ciolek could face competition from some of the fastest men in the world, including Sagan and Team Sky’s Ben Swift.
But the teams from cycling’s top-level UCI WorldTour, and the second tier Pro Continental squads will face a strong challenge from the six British UCI Continental squads invited to the race.
Barker, whose Nigel Mansell-owned team dominated the mid-season criteriums, said all of the British teams would be motivated to prove they could perform against the world’s best.
“Personally, and I speak for the rest of the Continental riders and all the other guys in our team, we would like to perform and show that we are not just a decent team in a small pond, but we can hold our own against the likes of Gerard and the rest of the guys who are going to be there.”
The Chiswick-based rider revealed he had made six efforts up Leith Hill in a recent 200km ride, and had made “a thousand” efforts on Box Hill.
“It’s actually quite helpful to know the personality of the climb, to know where the slightly steeper sections are, where you’re going to have to back off a little bit, and where you really need to make an effort,” he said.
This year’s race is classified as 1.1 HC event by the sport’s governing body, the UCI. RideLondon-Surrey Classic director, Mick Bennett, said he would like the event to remain at that level next year, before graduating to the top tier.
“We certainly want it to be an event whereby the teams have to ride it – the top 16, like it is on the WorldTour. That’s our aspiration,” he said.
Live coverage of the race will be broadcast on BBC One from 11.30am to 2pm and from 4.30pm to 6.30pm, and on the ‘red button’ service between 2pm to 4.30pm.
