SD Worx-Protime, the team of Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes and Lotte Kopecky, will return to the Ford RideLondon Classique in 2024.
The Dutch team has not participated in the event since 2022 and, according to the race director, their return will “inspire excellence among future generations of young cyclists” in Britain.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly, RideLondon’s Scott Sunderland said SD Worx’s return will instantly elevate the level of competition in the women’s WorldTour event.
He said: “SD Worx-Protime has shown again and again that they are the team to beat on the pro-circuit and they have started the season in domineering fashion.
“The bar it takes to win has just gone up, but we know that there are a host of teams who come to the Classique with a sole purpose – to win.
“I expect the quality of the racing to be enhanced by the quality of this elite field – all of whom want to be part of the Classique’s story.”
At the end of last year, former Tour of Britain race director Mick Bennett told Cycling Weekly that Brexit had meant large numbers of teams had skipped events in Britain due to logistical issues associated with the UK leaving the EU.
Sunderland told CW that teams are finding ways to navigate potential travel issues around getting to Britain and that many teams see RideLondon as key preparation for major races later on in the season.
“The Women’s WorldTour calendar is very congested and that is ultimately a challenge we have had to navigate,” he explained. “Attending the Classique means significantly more travel for teams, but they recognise the benefits of doing so. With La Vuelta Femenina moving from September to May in 2023, we found ourselves stuck between two major stage races.
“But the teams have adjusted and they want the Classique to be part of their programme. They see this as a major preparatory race for what is to come in the summer months, as well as a prestigious standalone event.”
As well as SD Worx, major Women’s WorldTour squads Lidl-Trek, Canyon-SRAM, UAE Team ADQ and dsm-firmenich PostNL will also be present.
Like other race organisers in the UK, Sunderland explained that getting RideLondon on requires a mammoth effort each year. However, buoyed by additional support, he explained that the intention is for the race to continue to grow in the years ahead.
He said: “We are in the fourth year of a ten-year agreement with the Mayor of London and Transport for London to run Ford RideLondon and growing the event and getting the best teams to attend the Classique is part of that project. We aren’t going anywhere, and we want to get bigger.
“Organising a race in the UK is not easy, but it is made possible with great partners and stakeholders. We have shown it can be done. Teams recognise that this is a well-run race with high safety standards and many return year after year, for a multitude of reasons.”
After the collapse of former race organiser, SweetSpot, British Cycling recently announced that it would look to stage a women’s Tour of Britain which will occupy the former UCI calendar spot held by the SweetSpot run Women’s Tour in 2024.
At the time, BC CEO Jon Dutton told the media that the national governing body would not rule out collaboration with other UK race organisers, including those behind RideLondon, to make the Tour of Britain for women happen.
He said: “Ride London is a fantastic race and London Marathon Events have done an absolutely incredible job.
“We are very open to how we move forward in delivering sustainable cycling events. That might mean collaboration, it might mean co-creation, we're completely open to that, our focus is on ensuring we do everything we can in 2024 but then it’s about growth from 25 onwards. So we're really open to that in the future.”
