World champion Lotte Kopecky and British superstar Lizzie Deignan will go head-to-head with former race winners Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes at the 2024 Ford RideLondon Classique.
Kopecky will showcase the famous world champion’s rainbow bands at the race, between May 24 and May 26, in what will be her first appearance on UK roads since winning her world title in Glasgow last year.
Currently ranked the second-best rider in the UCI World rankings, Kopecky, who has already won the season opening UAE Tour Women and Strade Bianche one-day race in 2024, is among the riders expected to challenge for Gold at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. Her outstanding 2023 also saw her win The Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and finish second overall at the Tour de France Femmes.
Deignan (pictured above) is another rider eyeing up the Olympic Games. The 2015 world champion, who won a silver medal in the London 2012 Olympic Games, returns after finishing third at last year’s Ford RideLondon Classique.
Wiebes (pictured above) and Kool add to the stellar line up at the Classique to determine who is the fastest woman on two wheels, having won the last three editions of the UCI Women’s WorldTour race between them.
Kool (pictured above) won Stages One and Three of the Classique in 2023, sprinting to success in Colchester and on The Mall to ensure consecutive titles for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL. This was after Wiebes, who won 13 races in her debut season for Team SD Worx-Protime last year, swept all before her in 2022 to win all three stages and the overall classification for the Dutch team. She also won the final iteration of the one day race in 2019.
It is the strongest field of riders ever to contest the Classique, after it was announced last month that the strongest selection of teams in the race’s history will be competing in 2024.
Scott Sunderland, Ford RideLondon Classique Race Director, said: “The best riders in the world want to race the Ford RideLondon Classique – the talent on show in the 2024 field represents the very best of the elite women’s peloton. The sprinting on show will be of the highest order and this could be the fastest edition of the race ever.
"With a world-class lineup on a world-class course, you can expect to see aggressive team tactics and strategic attacks by riders. The course has been modified in 2024 to reward this type of racing during the stages in Essex.
“The quartet of Lizzie, Lotte, Charlotte and Lorena is formidable, and they boast more world, European and national titles, not to mention stage wins, than I can count on two hands. They are sure to be among the key players in this year’s race and I cannot wait to see what unfolds.”
The Ford RideLondon Classique gets underway on Friday 24 May with Stage One from Saffron Walden to Colchester. The race returns to Maldon the following day before concluding on Sunday 26 May on The Mall following eight laps of central London.