RideLondon

RideLondon
Status Active
Frequency Annually
Country United Kingdom
Inaugurated 2013
Founder Mayor of London, London and Partners, Transport for London and Surrey County Council
Next event 28–30 July 2017
Activity Cycling
Organised by London & Surrey Cycling Partnership
Sponsor Prudential plc
Website
www.ridelondon.co.uk

RideLondon, known through sponsorship as Prudential RideLondon, is an annual three-day festival of cycling held in London. It was developed by the Mayor of London, London and Partners and Transport for London in partnership with Surrey County Council, and is managed by London & Surrey Cycling Partnership.

The festival was designed as an annual legacy from the Olympic Games and first held in 2013. The format consists of a series of cycling events on closed roads around London and Surrey for amateur cyclists and professionals, culminating in the London–Surrey Classic, a one-day international road cycling.

Overview

Prudential RideLondon is composed of six events taking place the weekend following the end of the Tour de France at the end of July every year.

Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix

Taking place on the Friday at the Lee Valley VeloPark in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix features the Prudential RideLondon Handcycle Grand Prix, an event for injured veteran servicemen and women; the Prudential RideLondon Youths Grand Prix, a series of four races for boys and girls; and the Prudential RideLondon Elite Handcycle Grand Prix.

Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle

Taking place on the Saturday, the Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle offers an opportunity for people of all ages to cycle on traffic-free roads in Central London, passing landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, the Bank of England, the Houses of Parliament and St Paul's Cathedral.

Prudential RideLondon Classique

The Prudential RideLondon Classique is a UCI Women's WorldTour race on the Saturday evening on a 5.5 km circuit in central London, beginning and finishing on The Mall.

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 takes place on the Sunday. Over 25,000 amateur cyclists start in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, then cycle through the capital and onto Surrey's country roads and the Surrey Hills before a finish on The Mall in central London. Many of the riders are sponsored for charities: £12 million was raised for charity in 2015.[1]

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46

First established in 2016, the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46 takes place on the Sunday morning. The 46-mile route on traffic-free roads begins at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London and follows the same route as the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 for the first 27 miles before linking to with the last 17 miles through London to the finish in The Mall.


Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on the Sunday, is a UCI WorldTour event which follows largely the same route as the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive with multiple circuits in and around Dorking.

History

Origins

The origins of RideLondon can be traced back to when London was awarded the rights to stage the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. As a result of this win, London staged a number of cycling events. In 2007, London hosted the Tour de France Grand Depart and also closed roads to create a day-long safe cycling environment in city centre, known at the time as The London Freewheel. This annual one day event continued between 2007-2011 and under the name of Mayor of London's Skyride from 2009.

During this time, London's new major events team explored the feasibility and subsequently developed a new world-class event for cycling that could one day rival London's most iconic sporting events such as the London Marathon and the Wimbledon Championships[2]. The annual event would include the world's top men, women and hand cyclists racing as part of the international cycling calendar; challenge and inspire people from all backgrounds to get on two wheels; and be an event that the whole city could be proud of and ultimately own. In late 2011 and early 2012, Mayor Boris Johnson assessed and formally approved the recommendation to create the event [3] and, at the start of the Olympic year, the search for a suitably qualified and experienced Delivery Partner was launched.[4] After detailed work, a joint venture from the organisers of London Marathon and the Tour of Britain under the name of the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership was selected to make the event a reality. The event would be delivered in partnership with Surrey County Council and include a route through the Surrey Hills, which international cyclists would become familiar with at the Olympic Games road race.

In August 2012, as the Olympic Games drew to a close, the Mayor of London and the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership, alongside British Cycling and double Olympic champion Laura Trott, formally launched RideLondon [5] and called for fans to sign up to the 100-mile challenge. By the time of the announcement of the event's first title sponsor, Prudential, in early 2013 [6] more than 55,000 people had signed up to be one of the first riders to participate in the inaugural RideLondon-Surrey 100, part of the Prudential RideLondon festival weekend with coverage to be broadcast live on BBC and international TV.

The RideLondon vision was to showcase the capital to nationwide and international audiences and inspire more people to take up regular cycling. Attracting both international and domestic spectator and participant spend, the RideLondon festival was designed to not only bring associated benefits for the London economy, but to also showcase the great city and promote opportunities for future investment.

2013 Event

In its first year, more than 16,000 people started the RideLondon-Surrey 100, more than 50,000 took part in RideLondon FreeCycle and over 1,000 volunteers helped ensure 99 per cent of participants rated the event as good or excellent.

2014 Event

In 2014, amid driving rain and strong winds caused by the tail end of Hurricane Bertha, over 20,000 completed the race, with 60,000 taking part in the FreeCycle. In 2014, the event organisers expected a record number of more than 95,000 riders to take part in the event. On an economic scale, the projected impact of RideLondon is worth tens of millions of pounds; this excludes any monies raised for charity and benefits to the wider community. The organisers also set a goal for RideLondon to become the largest charity fundraising cycle event in the world. In its first year, riders in the RideLondon-Surrey 100 raised more than £7 million for charity and in 2014, riders raised more than £10 million for charity, setting a new record for a UK one-day cycling event for a second successive year.

2015 Event

In 2015, the route for the RideLondon-Surrey 100 built on the success of the 2013 and 2014 events. To respond to the huge demand for the event, places were increased by 25 per cent with more than 25,000 riders crossing the Start Line in Queen Elizabeth Park Olympic Park on 2 August.

In 2015, the newest event in the RideLondon festival of cycling was the 10th Brompton Bicycle World Championship Final, which featured in the RideLondon Grand Prix races in St James's Park. It was the first time that the Brompton World Championship Final had been held in London, and the event opened with a Le Mans-style start as 500 smartly-dressed competitors from around the world made a mad dash to unfold their bikes before setting off on the circuit. Six Festival Zones (up from five in 2014) in RideLondon FreeCycle offered riders a chance to stop and enjoy a huge range of free bike-based entertainment and to try out many different bike-based activities. The women's RideLondon Grand Prix race was also one of the biggest one-day races on the international calendar and was again televised live by the BBC.

2016 Event

In 2016, a new 46 mile event was launched by Bradley Wiggins specifically for newer and younger cyclists. The RideLondon-Surrey 46 on traffic-free roads starts at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and follows the same route as RideLondon-Surrey 100 for the first 27 miles before taking a new two-mile route, which then links up with the last 17 miles to the finish in The Mall.

A new format for the RideLondon Grand Prix was also announced. From 2016 it is to be held at the Lee Valley Velopark in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and include handcycle, junior and BMX races for the first time.

2017 Event

In 2017, the RideLondon-Surrey Classic will have UCI World status.

Results

Year Men's Elite Women's Elite World Brompton Championship Final
2013Arnaud Démare,  France, FDJ.frLaura Trott,  United Kingdom, Wiggle Honda Held at Orbital Festival, Goodwood Circuit
2014Adam Blythe,  United Kingdom, NFTO Pro Cycling Giorgia Bronzini,  Italy, Wiggle Honda Held at Orbital Festival, Goodwood Circuit
2015Jean Pierre Jempy Drucker,  Luxembourg, BMC Racing Team Barbara Guarischi,  Italy, Velocio-SRAM Mark Emsley,  United Kingdom
2016Tom Boonen,  Belgium, Etixx–Quick-Step team Kirsten Wild,  Netherlands, Team Hitec Products Mark Emsley,  United Kingdom
Grand Prix results
Year Men’s Elite Handcycle Women's Elite Handcycle Men’s Grand Prix Handcycle Women’s Grand Prix Handcycle Youth U16 Men Youth U16 Women Youth U14 Male Youth U14 Female Youth BMX Grand Prix 13-14 Male Youth BMX Grand Prix 13-14 Female
2013 Walter Ablinger,  Austria Andrea Eskau  Germany B. Drewett,  United Kingdom, Fareham Wheelers CC, Eastleigh S. Birchall,  United Kingdom, Lyme Racing Club, Newcastle-under-Lyme
2014 Walter Ablinger,  Austria E. Hayter,  United Kingdom, London Boys Team S. Capewell,  United Kingdom, West Midlands – Girls Team
2015 Brian Alldis,  United Kingdom J. Stewart,  United Kingdom, West Midlands Region E. Barnwell,  United Kingdom, Wales
2016Rafal Wilk,  Poland Renata Kaluza,  Poland Jonathan Waters,  United Kingdom Jen Warren,  United Kingdom J. Price,  United Kingdom, Wales A. Baker,  United Kingdom, Central Hamish MacLaren,  United Kingdom, Scotland Emma Finucane,  United Kingdom, Wales Luke Mendes,  United Kingdom, Milton Keynes BMX Racing Club Emily Orena  United Kingdom, Hayes Hawks BMX Club
2013 Inaugural Prudential RideLondon results
Men's Elite
Position Rider Team Time[7]
1 Arnaud Démare (FRA)FDJ.fr5:07:43
2 Sacha Modolo (ITA)Bardiani Valvole–CSF Inoxs.t.
3 Yannick Martinez (FRA)La Pomme Marseilles.t.
4 Fabio Sabatini (ITA)Cannondales.t.
5 Danny van Poppel (NED)Vacansoleil–DCMs.t.
6 Zak Dempster (AUS)NetApp–Enduras.t.
7 Raymond Kreder (NED)Garmin–Sharps.t.
8 Christian Delle Stelle (ITA)Bardiani Valvole–CSF Inoxs.t.
9 Christopher Sutton (AUS)Team Skys.t.
10 Ben Swift (GBR)Team Skys.t.
Elite Women

This event was an elite women's criterium road race, first held as part of the festival in 2013. The inaugural race was won by Laura Trott from Hannah Barnes.

Position Rider Time[8]
1 Laura Trott (GBR)45:26
2 Hannah Barnes (GBR)45:27
3 Loren Rowney (AUS)Same time
4 Dani King (GBR)Same time
5 Loes Gunnewijk (NED)Same time
6 Harriet Owen (GBR)Same time
7 Jaqueline Hahn (AUT)Same time
8 Lauren Creamer (GBR)Same time
9 Christiana Perchtold (AUT)45:28
10 Mary Costelloe (IRL)Same time
Handcyclists
Men
Position Rider Time[8]
1 Walter Ablinger (AUT)30:15
2 Brian Aldiss (GBR)30:16
3 Heinz Frei (CHE)30:18
4 Chris Madden (GBR)31:57
5 Alastair Corps-Bell (GBR)33:38
6 Alan Cook (GBR)33:38
7 Justin Davis (GBR)33:40
8 Steve Arnold (GBR)Lapped twice, time not taken
Women
Position Rider Time[8]
1 Andrea Eskau (GER)30:21
2 Karen Drake (GBR)Lapped once, time not taken
3 Liz McTernan (GBR)Lapped once, time not taken
4 Rachel Morris (GBR)Lapped once, time not taken
Youths
U16 Men

top 2

PositionRiderClub, branch Time[8]
1 B. Drewett (GBR)Fareham Wheelers CC, Eastleigh31:08
2 E. Kirkbride (GBR)Border City Wheelers CC, Carlisle31:09
U16 Women

top 2

PositionRiderClub, branch Time[8]
1 S. Birchall (GBR)Lyme Racing Club, Newcastle-under-Lyme34:03
2 R. Martin (GBR)Ribble Valley Juniors, Kirkham, LancashireSame time

References

  1. ↑ "Prudential Ridelondon raises record-breaking £12 million for charity". www.londonandpartners.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Mayor announces world class cycling festival". London City Hall. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Six race organisers shortlisted to run London Festival of Cycling". London City Hall. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  5. ↑ "Mayor announces world class RideLondon event". London City Hall. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "Prudential to sponsor Mayor's RideLondon Festival of Cycling". www.londonandpartners.com. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "Démare wins RideLondon-Surrey Classic". CyclingNews.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Prudential RideLondon official website Retrieved 12 August 2013
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