Maike van der Duin sprinted to fourth place in an exciting opening stage of the Ride London Classique today in Colchester. She currently sits fifth in the general classification and second in the youth classification.

HOW IT HAPPENED

An early breakaway was caught in the final hour of racing, which kickstarted a flurry of attacks. CANYON//SRAM Racing had been riding strongly in the first part of the race, especially supported by Alex Morrice. As the attacks came thick and fast, the team reacted swiftly. The final breakaway of thirteen riders included Soraya Paladin, who was outnumbered, formed with around 29km left to race. The team was able to add two more riders when Maike was able to bridge across to the leaders with the help of teammate Chloé Dygert.

Chloé had only just made it back to the peloton after a long chase following a heavy crash distanced her with around 55km remaining in the stage. Soon after she returned, Chloé went on the attack, causing a reaction in the peloton, and though was not caught, it allowed Maike to jump across to her teammate, and the duo worked hard to bridge to the front group. Reaching the leaders with 8km before the finish, Soraya immediately went to work to maintain the gap to the chasing peloton. In the sprint, Maike managed fourth place behind stage winner Charlotte Kool (DSM).

RIDER REACTIONS

Maike van der Duin: “It was really hard to chase and get across to the front group. In the first part of the race, we had everything under control. When the front group went, we had too few riders there. When Chloé attacked, and I could later join, we went all-in to get across to the leaders where we only had Soraya.”

“In the sprint, I was disappointed to get fourth. I lost the wheel of Chloé in the lead-out. I wasn’t fresh, and it was the first time I’m with riding Chloé. We learn from it, and we go again tomorrow. We can be proud we came into a position to be able to fight for the stage win, but we’re not happy with a fourth place.”

Chloé Dygert: “There was a traffic island on a small little left-hand descent, and where I was positioned behind the team train, I had nowhere to go but over the median. I double-punctured. I had no control and was riding on the rims, and it completely wiped me out. It took a good five or so minutes for my body to relax from the impact. I’m sore but very thankful it wasn’t worse.”

“The chase was hard. It took about 25-30km to reach the back of the peloton. I had a little breather and was able to attack to bridge across to the next group with Maike. It wasn’t an easy day in the saddle. But very impressed with how everyone road on the team. Was a big effort from Soraya at the end to keep the pace on! We will try again tomorrow.”

HOW TO WATCH

After the opening stage, Van der Duin is fifth on the overall at +12 seconds and is second in the youth classification. Dygert is eleventh at +17 seconds, and CANYON//SRAM Racing leads the team classification.

Follow all the action from the next two days of Ride London Classique on Twitter with #RideLondon and #UCIWWT. A daily broadcast can be found on GCN, Eurosport and BBC iPlayer.

Stage 2 | Maldon – Maldon | 140km | Stage start 11:00BST | Broadcast 13:00BST

Stage 3 | London – London | 91.2km | Stage start 15:30BST | Broadcast 15:00BST

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