British riders Katie Archibald and Laura Trott missed out on a top five place at the RideLondon event today as they finished in sixth and eighth place respectively. Italian Barbara Guarischi won the race after beating American rider Shelley Olds in a sprint finish.
As part of the weekend-long Prudential RideLondon cycling festival, the women's race follows a 1.3 mile long course that loops around St. James' Park in central London. The event was marred by a big crash on the final lap, in which numerous riders from back end of the main group fell just past the finish line, with some injured in the pile up.
Archibald, riding for Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International, did well to finish sixth after a bunch sprint, just one second behind winner Guarischi from Velocio Sports. And Trott, from Wiggle Honda, could only finish eighth after her lead-out train was taken out by the crash.
Trott won the event in it's inaugural year in 2013 with fellow Briton Hannah Barnes finished second. And last year saw seven British riders in the top 10, but this year wasn't as successful for the home riders with only one other rider finishing in the top 10, Eileen Roe who took ninth place.