Alexander Kristoff wins RideLondon-Surrey Classic

Katusha-Alpecin's Alexander Kristoff won the final sprint ahead of Magnus Cort Nielsen and Michael Matthews

From the start of the day there were several attempts to form a breakaway, but they were brought back from a peloton not wanting to let anyone get away,

Three riders eventually made it, Iljo Keisse, Twan Castelijns (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) created a lead of over four minutes.

They were caught and more attacks came, it was Peter Kennaugh from Team Sky who attacked at the top of Ranmore with Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) and Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott) joining him. Thye built up a lead of over 30 seconds.

Peter Kennaugh dropped out and Matteo Trentin and Daryl Impey pressed on.

On the climb of Box Hill, with 40 kms to gom Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) put in a huge attack, over 500 watts for 3 minutes on the famous climb of Box Hill to join Trentin and Impey.

They pressed on turning back towards central London. Their gap hovvered at around 30 seconds.

With 10 kms to go Katusha and SunWeb started to get the peloton organised and the gap started to come down as the Sprinters prepared for a final showdown.

Trentin and Impey were caught in the last kilometre by the peloton as sprinters lead out men came to the front.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) launched an early sprint and held on, crossing the line ahead of Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-Scott) and Michael Matthews (Sunweb) second and third place respectively.

It was a welcome win for Kristoff after a dry spell at the Tour de France.

2017 RideLondon Surrey Classic Top Ten

1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin 4:05:42 
2 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-Scott   
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Sunweb   
4 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac   
5 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac   
6 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team   
7 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy   
8 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe   
9 Rudy Barbier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale   
10 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale