The London–Surrey Classic (also known as the RideLondon–Surrey Classic) was an annual men's professional one-day

road cycling race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, starting and finishing in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 140 km preparatory event for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, which was won by sprinter

Mark Cavendish Sir Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx people, Manx retired professional cyclist. As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialised in the Madison (cycling), madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he ...

. The men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

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. The Prudential RideLondon–Surrey Classic was part of the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

between 2017 and 2019. Following the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 events due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the withdrawal of support from

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader ...

, the men's race did not return in 2022, with the

RideLondon RideLondon is an annual festival of cycling held in London. Intended as an annual legacy of the London 2012, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it was first held in 2013. The festival consists of a series of cycling events on closed roa ...

festival including a 3 day elite women's race (

RideLondon Classique RideLondon Classique is a women's cycle stage race held in Essex and London as part of the UCI Women's World Tour. Part of the RideLondon cycling festival, the race was originally held as a one-day race in central London, and became a stage race ...

) instead.

History

Origins

As part of the London Prepares test events for London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics a one-off one-day 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. The race started and finished on The Mall in London and featured two laps of a circuit centred on Box Hill in Surrey. 138 riders from 19 national teams and 10 trade teams took part in the race, and was won by

in a sprint finish.

2012 Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics held road cycling races for both

men A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the fa ...

and

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

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 London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

on 10 August 2012, less than two weeks after the Olympic Road Cycling races. RideLondon is managed by the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership, a joint venture between the organisers of the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

and

The Tour of Britain ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

. The inaugural RideLondon–Surrey Classic was run as a 1.1 category event on the

2013 UCI Europe Tour The 2013 UCI Europe Tour was the ninth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2013 season began on 27 January 2013 with the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise and ended on 20 October 2013 with the Chrono des Nat ...

. The UCI upgraded the classification for the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

race which was run as a 1.HC category event on the

2014 UCI Europe Tour The 2014 UCI Europe Tour was the tenth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2014 season began on 2 February 2014 with the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise and ended on 19 October 2014 with the Chrono des Na ...

; the same classification as

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m ...

and

Milano–Torino Milano–Torino is a semi classic European single day cycling race, between the northern Italian cities of Milan and Turin over a distance of 199 kilometres. The event was first run in 1876 making it the oldest classic race in the world. The ...

UCI World Tour status

The RideLondon event director, Hugh Brasher, stated his ambitions to attain

status for the RideLondon–Surrey Classic by 2016. This was backed up by positive rider reaction following the inaugural race, including from Arnaud Démare's teammate

Dominique Rollin Dominique Rollin (born 29 October 1982) is a Canadian former professional cyclist. Born in Boucherville, Quebec, Rollin began his professional career in 2001 with the team Sympatico High Speed-Jet Fuel Coffee and again the following year, 2002 ...

. In March 2016 the race organisation applied for WorldTour status from the 2017 event and in August 2016 the UCI confirmed that the race would be promoted to the WorldTour from 2017.

agreed to support the RideLondon events until 2018, with an option of a further two-year extension.

Cancellation

The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to the

. Following the withdrawal of title sponsor Prudential and

, the event has concentrated in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

from 2022 with an 3-day elite women's race, the

. In June 2021, organisers of the event confirmed that the men's race would not return.

Route

The RideLondon–Surrey Classic route was a variation of the course used for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The route featured both categorised climbs and intermediate sprint points. Riders started from the

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City devel ...

close to the Olympic Velodrome before passing close to

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

and the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

on the way through central London. Leaving London by the A4 the route passes through

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

and

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

. In Surrey the route passed through

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

and Ripley on the way to the first of the categorised climbs and the leafy villages of the Surrey Hills. Multiple laps of hilly terrain in the vicinity of

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

incorporated further categorised climbs, including

Leith Hill Leith Hill in southern England is the highest summit of the Greensand Ridge, approximately southwest of Dorking, Surrey and southwest of central London. It reaches above sea level, and is the second highest point in southeast England, aft ...

– 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 Oxshott is a suburban village in the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. Oxshott includes hilly acidic heath which is partly wooded (see Esher Commons and Prince's Coverts) and occupies the land between the large towns of Esher and Leatherh ...

, Kingston upon Thames,

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

. The final kilometres followed the Embankment, past the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

, along

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

and turning left through

Admiralty Arch The Admiralty Arch is a historic landmark building in London, providing road and pedestrian access between The Mall, London, The Mall, which extends to the southwest, and Trafalgar Square to the northeast. Commissioned by King Edward VII in mem ...

before the finish on The Mall.

Sprints classification

Intermediate Sprints counted towards the sprints classification; the points distribution for this classification is as follows: 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: The categorised climbs that featured in the RideLondon–Surrey Classic included:

Winners

Overall winners

(see 2012 Olympic road race) due to

due to

Overall winners by nationality

Sprints classification winners

King of the Mountains classification winners

Records

* The fastest RideLondon–Surrey Classic was in 2017, by Alexander Kristoff at a speed of . * The highest number of finishers was in 2013 – 131 out of 147 starters completed the course within the time limit.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:London-Surrey Classic Cycle races in England UCI World Tour races UCI Europe Tour races Recurring sporting events established in 2013 2013 establishments in England Box Hill, Surrey