Although some parts of London and other British cities have been affected by rioting and looting in recent days, the Olympic test event scheduled for the capital this Sunday is expected to go ahead. Garmin-Cervélo sprinter Tyler Farrar should be one of the favourites for the road race in next year’s Games and he is using the opportunity to check out the Box Hill circuit this weekend.
The test event will be run off as the London-Surrey Cycle Classic, which will be 140 kilometres in length. It will cover two laps of the Olympic circuit, although next year’s road race will be over nine laps and will total 250 kilometres.
Farrar will be up against a number of strong riders, including British favourite and 20-time Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish (HTC Highroad). The American will be joined by four USA Cycling espoir riders, namely Ian Boswell and Gavin Mannion (both Trek Livestrong U23) plus Team Type 1 Development duo Ty Magner and Tanner Putt.
The final start list is yet to be released, but the provisional lineup includes several big names. The Australian lineup is one of the strongest on paper and lists strong riders such as Milan San Remo winner Matt Goss, former runner-up Heinrich Haussler, world under 23 champion Michael Matthews and Stuart O’Grady. Belgium includes 2005 world road race champion Tom Boonen, while England features Steve Cummings, Adam Blythe and Russell Downing.
Others to watch – providing they are in the final lineup on Sunday – will be Sylvain Chavanel and Romain Feillu (France), Cavendish, Ben Swift and Peter Kennaugh (Great Britain), Matt Brammeier and David McCann (Ireland), Sacha Modolo and Luca Paolini (Italy), Alexander Kristoff and Kurt Asle Arvesen (Norway), plus New Zealand’s Julian Dean.
The race will be a mixture of national squads and trade teams. One of the latter will be the An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly squad, which features former Belgian champion Niko Eeckhout, the in-form Gediminas Bagdonas, Briton Andy Fenn and the Irish duo Sam Bennett and Philip Lavery.
“There are twenty national teams taking part and a selected few sponsored teams, so we were delighted to get the invite,” said team manager Kurt Bogaerts. “We will be facing a really high quality field of riders but I am sending a strong team and I hope we can do well.”
The action will get underway in central London’s Mall at 9am, travelling out to Hampton Court Palace and Surrey, then returning via two circuits around Box Hill. The finish will be back at the Mall, near Buckingham Palace.