The final four chasers Michael Woods (Garneau-Quebecor), Bruno Langlois (Garneau-Quebecor), Dominique Rollin (FDJ) and Francois Parisien (Team Argos-Shimano)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Winner Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr)(Image credit: Pete Goding/Godingimages.com)
Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) wins the race in RideLondon-Surrey Classic.(Image credit: Pete Goding/Godingimages.com)
Canada's Dominque Rollin described the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic as ‘a prefect day in the office’ after an FDJ.fr master class saw them take the win courtesy of Arnaud Démare. Rollin also tipped the race to join the WorldTour calendar, paying tribute to the organisation and crowds.
Rollin played FDJ.fr’s first card of the race, successfully infiltrating the early seven-man break that established a lead close to five minutes.
"It was perfect set up for the team. We had me up front in the breakaway and I managed to pick up a few points in the KOM competition. I was just enjoying myself out there,” Rollin told Cyclingnews after the race.
“It was always on our level. We wanted someone in the break so we covered a lot of moves early on. I just happened to pick the lucky number,” he added.
With the break starting to crack in the latter stages of the race and the peloton closing in, Rollin’s teammate Yoann Offredo skipped off the front of the bunch. He briefly joined the break before pulling clear once again with Zico Waeytens (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloisel) for company. With the duo escaping with over 30 kilometres to go their chances of success were limited but it meant that FDJ.fr could save the rest of their resources for the sprint as the likes of Team Sky and Orica-GreenEDGE were forced to muster a chase.
“When is saw that Yoann was coming across I just sat up and waited before giving it everything I could for him. Unfortunately everyone in the break was tired so Yoann just pulled off of the front. It was a bit too early, unfortunately, but it played out well in the end and it was a perfect day at the office. We were already on the offensive and never had to chase or play catch up in the race,” Rollin said.
Future WorldTour status?
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Currently listed as a UCI 1.1 event, the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic forms part of London’s Olympic legacy, with a sportif and women’s race having taken place on the scheduled weekend. For Rollin it was a successful event and the Canadian believes the race has a chance of becoming WorldTour in the future.
“It’s a fun race. It was good to see a lot of people out supporting. It’s impressive how well organised it is for a one day event in its first year, if you don’t count the Olympics. I think it will be in the WorldTour pretty soon,” he told Cyclingnews.
“It’s well organised, it’s a fun race and it’s supported. It’s different from a lot of other races on the calendar. It’s a hard race but one that’s suited in the main for a sprint. However there’s still the chance of a break making it to the finish, as we saw.”
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
