RideLondon has no future in Surrey after 2021, says council

Surrey County Council will withdraw their support for RideLondon after 2021 following complaints from residents of the disruption caused by the event.

The public consultation should see the disappearance of the county from the event after next year's edition, which already only features four miles of Surrey roads. The 2021 event has also been significantly scaled back, with no 100-mile sportive or men's WorldTour race.

Instead, the council says they will focus on "smaller, community-led events that encourage a greater variety of participants whilst minimising disruption for residents".

Businesses also apparently voiced their displeasure at the disruption, while opposition also came from the road closures caused by the event.

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"We are committed to encouraging cleaner, greener travel and recognise the health and well-being benefits from all kinds of sport including walking and cycling. We are actively seeking new opportunities within Surrey to encourage all sorts of people to get out and about on their bikes," Surrey County Council's Denise Turner-Stewart said.

Turner-Stewart goes on to say they tried to make the event work for residents who were opposed to the event, but that they had "exhausted all available options".

"The recommendations in the paper were not easy to make, and we held off making this decision until we had exhausted all available options to try to make the event work for our residents," she explained.

"Although we can no longer support the larger closed road event, we remain open minded to hosting less disruptive, smaller family-focused events in future years."

After the 2020 event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 event will take place in May next year.

The event, created following the London 2012 Olympics, saw 30,344 amateur riders take part in the sportives last ear, with distances of 100 miles, 46 miles and 19 miles on offer.