Lorena Wiebes ties up RideLondon Classique with hat-trick of stage wins

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) returned to the top step of the Ford RideLondon Classique on Sunday, winner of all three stages and the general classification.

The Dutchwoman repeated the feat she previously achieved in 2022, taking a clean sweep at the race held across Essex and London. She won in Colchester on Friday, Maldon on Saturday, and on The Mall on Sunday, delivered each time to the line by her world champion teammate, Lotte Kopecky, and unrivalled in the bunch sprint. 

Wiebes's compatriot Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich Post NL) finished second overall, 25 seconds down accounting for bonus seconds. Kopecky rounded out the podium in third. 

"Riding through the centre of London was special. I enjoyed it," Wiebes said afterwards. "It was nice that we finished one and three in the general classification. It's fantastic that we proved unbeatable in this RideLondon." 

After winning an uphill sprint convincingly on day one, the SD Worx-Protime rider made no secret of her ambition to claim all three stages. 

"I had my sights set on the hat-trick," she said. "It is always difficult to repeat performances and a hat-trick is even more difficult to achieve. It helps when you have such strong teammates around you. I want to thank them for everything they have done for me." 

Claiming victory on the Mall, in particular, proved a memorable moment for the Dutchwoman. When she won the race in 2022, the event coincided with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, meaning the iconic sprint finish was moved from outside Buckingham Palace to the shadows of the Houses of Parliament. 

On the Mall on Sunday, both Wiebes and her teammate Kopecky said they were "proud" of how their team raced this time round. 

"It was a collectively strong performance from the team," Kopecky said. "What I especially like is how we can trust each other. That is the key to success. Sometimes your instinct says otherwise, but you should always trust and follow your lead-out. By drawing confidence from each other, you can finish it off in such hectic sprints. I am happy with Lorena Wiebes's hat-trick."

Having won all three bunch sprints, Wiebes also earned victory in the points classification at the race. 

The mountains classification was won by Uno-X's Rebecca Koerner, who collected points in a breakaway on stage one. The best young rider at the race was 22-year-old Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ), who finished eighth overall.