Laura Trott won the inaugural Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix around St James’s Park in central London yesterday evening, getting what she called “sweet revenge” over national criterium champion Hannah Barnes in a sprint finish.
Trott timed her finish to perfection to take victory in a race she felt she “had to win”.
Led down The Mall by her Team Wiggle Honda teammate Dani King at the end of 15 laps of the 1.3-mile circuit, the double Olympic track champion threw her arms in the air and screamed in delight as she beat Barnes to the line by a single bike length.
“I had the best lead-out ever,” said the smiling Trott, official ambassador of the Mayor of London’s first weekend festival of cycling. “Dani just floored it from the last corner so I only had to sprint about 50 metres. It was so good.
“This feels like my event, so I felt I had to win. I’m so glad I did.”
The 21-year-old Londoner won the Olympic team pursuit track title for Britain with King and Jo Rowsell exactly a year ago tomorrow, and they enjoyed team success again as King took fourth place behind Barnes and Australia’s Loren Rowney.
“I just gave as much as I could,” said King. “It feels as good as winning it myself, to be honest. We work so well together as a team, and this time I was working for her.
“Laura is a London girl, so it meant a lot to work for her victory today.”
Barnes beat Trott in the recent IG London Nocturne race but couldn’t overcome Wiggle Honda’s determined teamwork this time. She was in a strong position coming off the final bend from Horse Guards Parade and chased Trott hard to the finish gantry.
“I could tell Hannah was on my wheel but I had such a good lead out I knew I was going to win,” said Trott. “It was sweet revenge.”
Barnes admitted she was a bit disappointed to be pipped at the line.
“It’s always nice to win,” she said. “But it was a really hard race with attack after attack. I was always on my toes but I got swamped a bit towards the end and couldn’t get through.”
Team Wiggle Honda riders figured prominently from the start with Emily Collins twice escaping off the front of the pack in the early stages. Barnes also showed among the early leaders, while Trott was biding her time, buried in the pack until the second half of the race.
“Everyone was attacking the whole time,” said Trott. “I just said to the girls, ‘Stop trying to get away, just chase,’ because we were wasting our energy.”
It was good advice. With two laps to go, Barnes and her MG-Maxifuel Pro teammates were driving the pace, with King, Rowsell and Trott in fourth, fifth and sixth. Three riders jumped away just before the final lap, only to be reeled in down Birdcage Walk.
A crash at the bottom of the circuit left Rowsell on the road, but Trott and King were ahead of the trouble and King executed the lead-out beautifully to deliver Trott to the line.
“It was a really strong race, and it proves that women’s racing is as exciting as the men’s,” said King, who will cycle tomorrow in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive for her charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
Trott will also start the sportive today alongside her dad, Adrian and her uncle, Nigel.
In other news, Britain’s Brian Alldis just lost out to olympic champion Walter Ablinger when he sprinted clear to take victory in the handcycle event.
Ablinger headed a lead group of four into the last two laps of eight with Frei, Alldis and Germany’s Andrea Eskau on his tail. Frei took the lead on the last lap but Ablinger emerged on the final stretch to pip Alldis by half a bike’s length.
Full results from the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix are available here
