It was a hectic day of racing for Charlotte Kool, who maintained her overall lead at the RideLondon Classique despite crashing in the final 1.2km of stage 2 on the run into Maldon.
The Dutch sprinter was involved in the incident that also saw Thalita de Jong (Liv Racing-TeqFind) and Eugénie Duval (FDJ-SUEZ) go down, but the riders affected had their finishing times neutralised, allowing Kool to hang onto the race lead going into the third and final stage on Sunday in London.
Kool was visibly bruised and iced her elbow after the finish. She got up quite quickly from the crash but did have to limp back to her bike before remounting.
“I could be better, but to be honest, I’m happy I’m still leading GC. In the end, it’s not too bad,” Kool said.
“I don’t know [what happened], I think in the group, two girls hit each other. I was in the middle and couldn’t go anywhere actually, so it was just unlucky, but that’s racing.”
Kool won stage 1 in a reduced group sprint but was unable to fight for the victory today, which went to Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) ahead of Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) and Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM).
Before crashing, Kool had successfully managed to stay in the front group after attacks from Deignan, Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma) and Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM). The latter did manage to break away solo with 11.3km remaining but was caught on the final rise to the line by the chasers.
“I think as a team, we had a really good day, we were everywhere we needed to be, and Megan [Jastrab] and Franzi [Koch] did amazing with positioning. In the final, it was up to me and Pfeiffer [Georgi] again, and I think we rode a really strong race,” said Kool.
“I was also really happy I could follow on the climb, so it was actually a really nice day until the crash.”
Georgi and Kool were, similarly to yesterday, the only two DSM riders in the leading group, and the young British star was working hard for Kool, reacting to attacks and chasing down Van der Duin.
The former British champion was praised by Deignan and even described as the ‘rider of the day’ by her compatriot in her efforts to help her sprinter survive.
“Pfeiffer was phenomenal today,” Deignan said. “I think if Charlotte Kool didn’t have Pfeiffer in the race, then she wouldn’t be in the jersey anymore.”
Stage 3 is a city circuit race in London that finishes on the iconic Mall. The riders will complete eight laps taking in some of the biggest sights in the UK before the sprinters battle it out on the flat finale.
Kool is the overwhelming favourite despite crashing today, and was excited to get the opportunity to go for the win this year. In 2022, she was part of the DSM lead-out train that saw Lorena Wiebes win all three stages at the RideLondon Classique, including the London stage.
“Tomorrow, I think I will not think about any pain and just go for it because I really love that finish and that circuit. We go one more day,” Kool said.
“Last year, that was the stage that hurt a bit in my heart to not sprint for myself, to be honest, for a sprinter, that’s a really exciting finish in the middle of London on that big road.”
Kool has a five-second lead over Deignan on GC, with Dygert a further five seconds back, so barring disaster or an unexpected winning sprint from either of that duo, she should hold on for the overall win.
