The London–Surrey Classic (also known as the RideLondon–Surrey Classic) was an annual 193 km (119.9 mi) men's professional one-day road cycling race, starting and finishing in London and routed via the picturesque Surrey Hills. The first race of its kind was the London–Surrey Cycle Classic, on 14 August 2011, a 1.2 classification[1] 140 km preparatory event for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was won by sprinter Mark Cavendish. The men's and women's Olympic road races were held on a longer variation of the same course the following year. On 4 August 2013, the race found a permanent home as part of the Prudential RideLondon weekend, a two-day cycling festival held in London, a legacy event of the Olympics.
As part of the London Prepares test events for London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics a one-off one-day 140 km (87.0 mi) cycle race was organised for 14 August 2011 acting as a test event for the Road Cycling events to be held the following year. The race was named the London-Surrey Cycle Classic and was part of the 2010–11 UCI Europe Tour as a 1.2 category event.[8]
The race started and finished on The Mall in London and featured two laps of a 15.5 km (9.6 mi) circuit centred on Box Hill in Surrey.[9] 138 riders from 19 national teams and 10 trade teams took part in the race, and was won by Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.[10]
2012 Summer Olympics
The peloton of the Men's Olympic Road Race in Southwest London.The peloton of the Women's Olympic Road Race in Southwest London.
The 2012 Summer Olympics held road cycling races for both men and women on a largely similar course to that of the London-Surrey Cycle Classic held the previous year.
RideLondon–Surrey Classic
The RideLondon weekend, including the RideLondon–Surrey Classic, was announced by the Mayor of LondonBoris Johnson on 10 August 2012, less than two weeks after the Olympic Road Cycling races.[11] RideLondon is managed by the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership, a joint venture between the organisers of the London Marathon and The Tour of Britain.
The RideLondon event director, Hugh Brasher, stated his ambitions to attain UCI World Tour status for the RideLondon–Surrey Classic by 2016.[13] This was backed up by positive rider reaction following the inaugural race, including from Arnaud Démare's teammate Dominique Rollin.[14] In March 2016 the race organisation applied for WorldTour status from the 2017 event[15] and in August 2016 the UCI confirmed that the race would be promoted to the WorldTour from 2017.[16]Surrey County Council agreed to support the RideLondon events until 2018, with an option of a further two-year extension.[17]
The profile of the 2013 Prudential RideLondon–Surrey ClassicThe profile of the 2014 Prudential RideLondon–Surrey Classic
The RideLondon–Surrey Classic route was a variation of the course used for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[18] The route featured both categorised climbs and intermediate sprint points.
Multiple laps of hilly terrain in the vicinity of Dorking incorporated further categorised climbs, including Leith Hill – the highest point in South-East England. On the return to London the route took in the final categorised climb of Box Hill before the largely flat run-in via Oxshott, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon and Putney. The final kilometres followed the Embankment, past the Palace of Westminster, along Whitehall and turning left through Admiralty Arch before the finish on The Mall.
Sprints classification
Intermediate Sprints counted towards the sprints classification; the points distribution for this classification is as follows:
Sprint
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Intermediate Sprint
5
3
2
1
Note that points were not awarded at the finish line.
King of the Mountains classification
Categorised climbs counted towards the King of the Mountains classification; the points distribution for this classification is as follows:
Category
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Cat 1
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Cat 2
6
5
4
3
2
1
Cat 3
4
3
2
1
The categorised climbs that featured in the RideLondon–Surrey Classic included:
