Britain’s Adam Blythe delivered a perfectly timed sprint to take a surprise victory in a sodden Prudential Ride London-Surrey Classic cycling race on Sunday.
A long-time breakaway group of five were together entering the final few hundred meters of the 200km course on The Mall, but 24-year-old Blythe of the lowly NFTO team blasted out from the back, catching his favored rivals unawares.
He had enough momentum to stay ahead of fellow Briton Ben Swift of Team Sky and Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider Julian Alaphilippe.
Photo: AFP
Torrential rain left the course puddle-strewn and some of the riders failed to stay upright in the early stages as the treacherous conditions and narrow country lanes took their toll.
However, as the route, much of which was used during the London 2012 Olympic Games, dried out, an 11-man breakaway took place that included 2012 world road race champion Philippe Gilbert.
That was trimmed to five to set up a superb finale as the main peloton, including 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, was unable to pull the breakaway group back.
The race completed a memorable weekend of cycling in the capital, which earlier in the day featured 24,000 amateur riders tackling a sportive over much of the same course after Saturday’s freecycle event where 55,000 riders enjoyed 16km of traffic-free roads in the center of the city.
In a high-quality women’s Grand Prix race on Saturday, Italy’s Giorgia Bronzini beat favorite and 2012 Olympic road race champion Marianne Vos in the final few meters.
TOUR OF UTAH
AP, PARK CITY, Utah
Tom Danielson defended his Tour of Utah title on Sunday, while former Tour de France champion Cadel Evans proved he is coming into form by winning his second consecutive stage.
Evans, who was tuning up for the Vuelta a Espana, won a sprint out of a five-man breakaway ahead of Wilco Kelderman and Winner Anacona to capture the mountainous seventh stage.
Danielson followed a few seconds later, waving to the crowd in Park City as the Garmin-Sharp rider celebrated his second overall win.
The win should give Danielson a big confidence boost as he heads to the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado.
Jure Kocjan won the points competitions as the top sprinter, while Joey Rosskopf was awarded the king of the mountains jersey. Dylan Teuns was the best young rider.
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