News: World Class Line up for Women’s Crit

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Race Director Mick Bennett has proclaimed the women’s line-up for this Saturday’s Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix, the best field of its kind ever to race in the UK.

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Olympic track champions Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell head a world-class field for the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix criterium race, the second of four events that make up the Mayor of London’s first Prudential RideLondon festival of cycling this weekend.

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British circuit race champion Hannah Barnes

The TeamGB trio return to race in London a year minus one day since their record-breaking team pursuit victory at the London 2012 Olympic Games, this time in the colours of the Wiggle Honda team.

They will face competition from three other UCI international teams – Orica AIS, Specialized Lululemon and Squadra Scappatella – plus a host of top British teams keen to perform on an iconic 1.3-mile circuit around St James’s Park.

“This is a fantastic line-up of Britain’s top female cycling stars taking on teams from around the world in a spectacular location; it’s the best field of women cyclists ever assembled for a criterium in the UK,” said Prudential RideLondon Race Director Mick Bennett.

“We have put together a field of almost 100 riders for the women’s event, a world-class handcycling line-up and a youth event featuring tomorrow’s stars to round out the first day of Prudential RideLondon with three action-packed races.”

Specialized Lululemon duo Katie Colclough and Australian Loren Rowney are joined by Orica AIS trio Loes Gunnewijk, Jessie Maclean and former Australian champion Amanda Spratt.

Austrian team Squadra Scappatella are a late addition to the line-up with six riders, led by Hungarian time trial champion Monika Kiraly plus several promising young Austrian cyclists.

Britain’s world track champion Elinor Barker, Kiwi Emily Collins and German Anna-Bianca Schitzmeier join the Olympic gold medal-winning trio in Wiggle Honda’s line-up, while Hannah Barnes and her MG Maxifuel team head the British domestic challenge.

Barnes has swept all before her this season, winning the Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series, the IG London Nocturne, and several other major races. Recent victories in the National Circuit Race Championships in York and last weekend’s Ryedale Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the National Women’s Road Race Series, show the 20-year-old remains in fine form.

She is supported by four teammates, including Commonwealth Games silver medallist Charline Joiner and Cheshire Classic Road Race winner Karla Boddy.

The Matrix Fitness Racing Academy boast the largest entry in the 89-rider field, listing seven riders for the start, including criterium specialist Hannah Walker and Emma Grant, the third placed under-23 rider in the British Championships and runner-up in last weekend’s Ryedale GP.

Natalie Creswick and Louise Mahe, of the four-rider London-based Team MuleBar Girl – Sigma Sport, performed strongly in this summer’s televised Johnson Health Tech GP Series, taking second and fourth in the standings.

DID Electricals Racing team, the first ever Irish elite women’s racing squad, have five riders entered, as do London-based Les Filles Racing team.

One rider to watch is the recently-crowned British junior road race champion Anna Christian, who competes for Scott Contessa Epic just a week on from taking the national title, and three days before she turns 18. Anna’s brother, Mark Christian, is riding in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on Sunday.

Other riders to look out for include Helen Wyman, European and seven-time British Cyclo Cross Champion, and Breast Cancer Care’s Ella Hopkins.

YOUTH RACE

In the Youth race, 48 riders will take to The Mall at 17:45 for a 30-minute race.

Among the riders taking part will be Ellis Kirkbridge, Luke Morgan and Matthew Walls, all among the top 12 in the British Cycling Youth National Circuit Series with two rounds to go.

Another to look out for is Bede Geoghegan Hart, a Hackney Cycling Club member and younger brother of the British Cycling Olympic development athlete, Tao.

Handcycling

The action will begin with the Prudential RideLondon Handcycling Grand Prix in which two injured British servicemen will join five medallists from the London 2012 Paralympics, including gold medallists Heinz Frei, Walter Ablinger, Marc Rohan and Andrea Eskau.

Royal Engineers staff sergeant Steve Arnold, who lost both legs when an IED exploded in Afghanistan during a tour of duty in April 2011, has already completed the 3,051-mile Race Across America, and is now aiming for selection for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Joining him will be Ben Zissman, who was paralysed from the waist down by an explosion in 2010 while attached to the 21 Engineer Regiment of the Royal Engineers. Introduced to handcycling through Help for Heroes, Zissman is also aiming for Rio 2016.

Frei, a former London Marathon wheelchair champion, who has competed in cross-country sit-skiing and biathlon, won the H2 time trial gold at London 2012 plus team relay bronze, while Ablinger took road race gold and time trial silver at the Paralympics.

Rohan, from Ireland, won both the H1 road race and time trial at the Paralympics, while Germany’s Eskau won H4 time trial and road race golds. Eskau also won a Nordic skiing silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Games.

British duo Rachel Morris and Karen Darke are also among the world-class entry list. Morris, winner of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic time trial, collected bronze last summer in the H1-3 road race, one place ahead of compatriot Darke.

Action in the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix gets underway at 17:00 with the handcycling race, followed by the youths at 17:45.

The women’s event will finish off proceedings with an hour-long race from 18:30 before podium presentations for all events on The Mall.

Visit www.PrudentialRideLondon.co.uk for a list of starters for all three races.

 WOMEN’S LINE UP

Katie Archibald City of Edinburgh RC
Elinor Barker Wiggle Honda
Emily Barnes Team Mulebar Girl – Sigma Sport
Hannah Barnes MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
Tracey Best Bryony Board Glendene CC
Karla Boddy MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
Louise Borthwick Edinburgh RC
Lydia Boylan Melissa Brand MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
Amy Bryce DID Electrical Racing Team
Charmaine Brown Pearson Cycling Club
Vittoria Bussi Zappi’s Ladies Team
Sian Cahill Zappi’s Ladies Team
Rebecca Carter Goscomb – BSR
Anna Christian Scott Contessa Epic
Katie Colclough Specialized Lululemon
Beth Coley VC Norwich
Emily Collins Wiggle Honda
Clemence Copie DID Electrical Racing Team
Tracy Corbett London Dynamo
Mary Costelloe DID Electrical Racing Team
Rachael Cottier London Phoenix CC
Lauren Creamer ISCorp Cycling/NCSF
Natalie Creswick Team Mulebar Girl – Sigma Sport
Abigail Dentus Team De ver
Hayley Edwards MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
Nikki Engelbach Les Filles Racing Team
Julie Erskine DID Electrical Racing Team
Sophie Faulkner Solihull CC
Maxine Filby Xcracer.com/Sponser Sport Food
Tracey Fletcher Team CTC
Michelle Forster London Phoenix CC
Clare Gillott Elitecycling
Amy Gornall Scott Contessa Epic
Emma Grant Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Laura Greenhalgh Twickenham CC
Tanya Griffiths Ipswich BC
Loes Gunnewijk Orica-AIS
Jacqueline Hahn Squadra Scappatella
Corrine Hall Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Kate Hewett Les Filles Racing Team
Catherine Hills WyndyMilla
Ella Hopkins Breast Cancer Care Cycling Team
Erica Howe VC Norwich
Charline Joiner MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
Nicola Juniper Les Filles Racing Team
Danielle King Wiggle Honda
Monika Kiraly Squadra Scappatella
Wiesia Kuczaj Team Mulebar Girl – Sigma Sport
Bella Leach London Phoenix CC
Clare Leaver Zappi’s Ladies Team
Melissa Lowther Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Mhairi Mackenzie London Phoenix CC
Jessie Maclean Orica-AIS
Louise Mahe Team Mulebar Girl – Sigma Sport
Louise Marsden VC Norwich
Cassie McGoldrick WyndyMilla
Jane McInnes London Dynamo
Lili McLean Andover Wheelers
Siobahn McNamara DID Electrical Racing Team
Jo Munden Pedal Heaven RT
Nicole Oh Les Filles Racing Team
Tamina Oliver Team CTC
Harriet Owen Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Hannah Payton Team CTC
Christiana Perchtold Squadra Scappatella
Sarah Piner DID Electrical Racing Team
Rachel Przybylski WyndyMilla
Helen Ralston Les Filles Racing Team
Larissa Ratkic Squadra Scappatella
Claire Richardson London Dynamo
Loren Rowney Specialized Lululemon
Joanna Rowsell Wiggle Honda
Claudia Schlarger Squadra Scappatella
Anna Schnitzmeier Wiggle Honda
Alexie Shaw Les Filles Racing Team
Jennifer Smart VC Norwich
Sally Smith PMR@Toachim House
Nicola Soden Champion System/Maxgear/Base
Amanda Spratt Orica-AIS
Jessica Stoddart
Victoria Strila Medway VC
Joanna Tindley Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Emma Towers Twickenham CC
Laura Trott Wiggle Honda
Alissa van Oijem Squadra Scappatella
Bonnie van Wilgenburgh Zappi’s Ladies Team
Hannah Walker Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Jessie Walker Matrix Fitness Racing Academy
Victoria Williams Royal Air Force CC
Astrid Wingler Team CTC
Rebecca Womersley Scott Contessa Epic
Helen Wyman Kona/ FSA Factory Team
Rachael Yates London Phoenix CC

 

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