Mayor of London Boris Johnson today launched London's Olympic Cycling legacy event, which will end Great Britain's long overdue wait for a top-level
one-day race.
The new weekend of cycling, called Ride London, will be run by Tour of Britain organiser SweetSpot and the London Marathon. It is scheduled to take place for the first time next August (2013), with the weekend of August 3-4 earmarked as the provisional dates for the inaugural edition.
Stratford's Olympic Park will host a family fun ride on day one of the festival (Saturday, August 3), and will be the start of a closed-roads sportive, elite criterium and professional road race on Sunday, August 4.
Riders in the sportive and road race will head into central London, before heading towards Surrey in a route that largely replicates that of the Olympic road races. Both events are currently scheduled to finish on The Mall.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ranking for the pro race has yet to be announced.
The Grand Prix criterium uses a closed roads circuit around St James's Park and takes place before the end of the sportive.
It is hoped the 100,000 people will take part in the fun ride or sportive, and it is expected that there will be live television coverage of the pro race - to be confirmed.
Plans for the two-day festival of cycling were first unveiled in January, and a shortlist of six potential delivery partners - including Tour de France organiser ASO - were announced in March.
More later...
Ride London 2013 schedule
Saturday, August 3 2013
Freecycle, family ride
Sunday, August 4 2013
Grand Prix criterium
Ride London 100 sportive
Ride London Classic
External link
Ride London website
Twitter
www.twitter.com/Ride_London
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