Women's WorldTour event secures top teams with prize pot of €100,000 on offer
Barbara Guarischi (Velocio-SRAM) wins RideLondon Grand Prix (Image credit: Velocio-SRAM)
The top teams of the Women's WorldTour will head to London at the end of July for the Prudential RideLondon Classique with race organisers confirming 19-teams off the back of the announcement there will equal prize money for the men's and women's RideLondon races. There will be €25,000 for the first rider across the line and €100,000 prize money in total.
The dominant team of the season thus far, Boels-Dolmans, will line up in London on July 30 to be joined by British-registered team Wiggle-High5 who are the second best ranked team at the moment. Canyon/SRAM, the team of last year's winner Barbara Guarischi, will return in 2016 and add further depth to a strong line up.
Along with Wiggle-High5, Great Britain will be represented by the Drops Cycling Team and Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa squads.
"We are delighted to have put together the strongest field ever assembled for a one-day race in Great Britain," race director Mick Bennett said of the race held on a 5.5km loop around London. "Prudential RideLondon is now leading the way in world cycling in terms of establishing parity between men's and women's bike racing."
The Prudential RideLondon Classique was included on the inaugural Women's WorldTour calendar and is one of two top tier events in the UK along with the Aviva Women's Tour. The re-named Prudential RideLondon Classique has received a large boost to its pool of prize money in 2016 and guaranteed live broadcast on the BBC which has raised the profile of the event as Bennett explained.
"We are proud to be the first WorldTour event offering equal prize money and when that is added to the fantastic live TV coverage from the BBC, a route that showcases our great capital city and the support from the crowds, we believe we are leading the way in the promotion of women's cycling," added Bennett.
"This is reflected in the quality of the field coming to London to take part in the Prudential RideLondon Classique in 2016. The event has become one of the most important dates on the women's cycling calendar and we can expect another fantastic day's racing."
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2016 Prudential RideLondon Classique Teams
Boels-Dolmans (Netherlands) Wiggle High5 (Great Britain) Rabo-Liv (Netherlands) Canyon/SRAM Racing (Germany) Orica-AIS (Australia) Team Liv-Plantur (Netherlands) Hitec Products (Norway) Ale Cipollini (Italy) Cylance Pro Cycling (USA) BTC City Ljubljana (Slovenia) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank (USA) Astana (Kazakhstan) Bepink (Italy) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.86 (France) Lensworld-Zannata (Belgium) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental team (Netherlands) Topsport Vlaanderen-Etixx (Belgium) Drops Cycling Team (Great Britain) Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa (Great Britain)
