RideLondon

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RideLondon
Status	Active
Frequency	Annually
Country	United Kingdom
Inaugurated	2013
Founder	Mayor of London, London and Partners and Transport for London and Surrey County Council
Next event	2022
Activity	Cycling
Organised by	London Marathon Events
Website	www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk

RideLondon, formerly known as Prudential RideLondon, is an annual 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 Marathon Events.^[1]

The festival was designed as an annual legacy from the London 2012 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.^[1]

Overview[]

RideLondon is composed of a number of events taking place the weekend following the end of the Tour de France at the end of July every year.^{[citation needed]}

RideLondon-Surrey Classic[]

The 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.

RideLondon Classique[]

The 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.^[2] The women's elite race, previously known as the Grand Prix pro race, was given UCI World Tour Status in 2016 and has the highest ever value prize money for a women's one-day race. This is also the same prize money as won in the men's elite race.^[3]

RideLondon FreeCycle[]

Taking place on the Saturday, the 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. Alongside the FreeCycle route, there are also seven festival zones, all of which have a variety of bike-based activities riders can get involved in.^{[citation needed]}

RideLondon-Surrey 100[]

The 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: £12.5 million was raised for charity in 2017.^[4]

RideLondon-Surrey 46[]

First established in 2016, the 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.^{[citation needed]}

Brompton World Championship[]

The Brompton World Championship first became part of the RideLondon cycling festival in 2015. The event involves 550 Brompton riders racing around a central London circuit on the iconic foldable bikes and ends with a sprint finish on The Mall. Riders are generally dressed in suits, due to the strict no lycra rule in order to reflect the Brompton bikes place in a modern-day commuter lifestyle.^{[citation needed]}

RideLondon HandCycle races and junior races[]

The RideLondon HandCycle and Junior races are also included in the RideLondon weekend. The elite HandCycle event was won by Rafal Wilk of Poland in 2016 and 2017 while Christine Reppe of Germany won the women's elite handcycle in 2017. The amateur handcycle event is for injured veteran servicemen and women. The Junior categories feature boys and girls races for 13–16 years old.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

Origins[]

The origins of RideLondon can be traced back to when London was awarded the rights to stage the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. Subsequently, London has staged a number of cycling events. In 2007, London hosted the Tour de France Grand Départ and also closed roads to create a day-long safe cycling environment in the city centre, known at the time as The London Freewheel. This annual one-day event continued between 2007-2011 and from 2009 became known as the Mayor of London's Skyride.^{[citation needed]}

Ambition to create 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,^[5] was born. The aim of the annual event is to include the world's top men, women and hand cyclists racing as part of the international cycling calendar in order to challenge and inspire people from all backgrounds to get on two wheels. In late 2011 and early 2012, Mayor Boris Johnson assessed and formally approved the recommendation to create the event.^[6] In 2011, a test event for the Olympic Games road race was held on a similar route to be used for the road races of the Olympic Games - the London–Surrey Cycle Classic.

In 2012, the search for a suitably qualified and experienced delivery partner was launched.^[7] After detailed work, a joint venture including the organisers of the 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 also mirrored the London Olympic Games road race. The event is part of the London 2012 Olympic legacy.^{[citation needed]}

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^[8] and called for fans to sign up to the 100-mile challenge. The event's first title sponsor, Prudential, was announced in early 2013^[9] by which time more than 55,000 people had signed up to be one of the first riders to participate in the inaugural RideLondon-Surrey 100. This race is 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, generate economic benefit from participant and spectator expenditure and inspire more people to take up regular cycling.^{[citation needed]}

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 run the event. 99% of participants rated the event as good or excellent and riders in the RideLondon-Surrey 100 raised more than £7 million for charity.^[10]

2014 event[]

In 2014, over 16,000 completed the RideLondon-Surrey 100 (shortened to 86 miles due to adverse weather conditions) with 60,000 taking part in the FreeCycle ^[11] and more than £10 million being raised for charity by riders in the RideLondon-Surrey 100. This set a new record for a UK one-day cycling event for a second successive year.

2015 event[]

In response to the huge demand for the event, places were increased by 25 per cent in 2015, with more than 25,000 riders crossing the Start Line in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 2 August.^[12] This year a new event was also added to the RideLondon cycling festival: the 10th Brompton Bicycle World Championship Final. This event featured in the RideLondon Grand Prix races in St James's Park and was the first time that the Brompton World Championship Final had been held in London. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

2017 event[]

In 2017, the RideLondon-Surrey Classic and RideLondon Classique both gained UCI WorldTour status and became the richest one-day races in cycling offering equal prize money for both the men's and women's races.^[13] Riders in the RideLondon-Surrey 100 and RideLondon-Surrey 46 together raised £12.75 million for charity.^[14]

2019 event[]

In 2019, both the RideLondon-Surrey Classic and RideLondon Classique were WorldTour races - with equal prize money. The RideLondon Classique was won by Lorena Wiebes, a pre-race favourite.^[15] The RideLondon-Surrey Classic was won by Elia Viviani.

2020 and 2021 events[]

The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[16][17] In 2020, Surrey County Council withdrew their support of the event.^[18]

Future[]

Following the withdrawal of title sponsor Prudential^[19] and Surrey County Council,^[18] the event will become a one-day event in Central London from 2022 - with a 3-day elite women's race^[20] as the main event, as well as a public freeride.^[17] In March 2021, a 10 year partnership with London Marathon Events to stage the event was agreed.^[1] In June 2021, organisers confirmed that the men's race would not return in 2022.^[21]

Results[]

Year	Men's Elite 'London–Surrey Classic'	Women's Elite 'RideLondon Classique'	Brompton World Championship
2011	Mark Cavendish,  United Kingdom, Great Britain national team	Not held	Held at Orbital Festival, Goodwood Circuit
2012	No race (see 2012 Olympics Men's road race)	No race (see 2012 Olympics Women's road race)	Held at Orbital Festival, Goodwood Circuit
2013	Arnaud Démare,  France, FDJ.fr	Laura Trott,  United Kingdom, Wiggle Honda	Held at Orbital Festival, Goodwood Circuit
2014	Adam Blythe,  United Kingdom, NFTO Pro Cycling	Giorgia Bronzini,  Italy, Wiggle Honda	Held at Orbital Festival, Goodwood Circuit
2015	Jempy Drucker,  Luxembourg, BMC Racing Team	Barbara Guarischi,  Italy, Velocio-SRAM	Mark Emsley,  United Kingdom
2016	Tom Boonen,  Belgium, Etixx–Quick-Step team	Kirsten Wild,  Netherlands, Team Hitec Products	Mark Emsley,  United Kingdom
2017	Alexander Kristoff,  Norway, Katusha-Alpecin team	Coryn Rivera,  United States, Team Sunweb	Unai Alvarez,  Spain
2018	Pascal Ackermann,  Germany, Bora–Hansgrohe	Kirsten Wild,  Netherlands, Wiggle High5	Cam Gutteridge,  United Kingdom
2019	Elia Viviani,  Italy, Deceuninck–Quick-Step	Lorena Wiebes,  Netherlands, Parkhotel Valkenburg	Alec Briggs,  United Kingdom
2020	No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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
2016	Rafal 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
2017	Rafal Wilk,  Poland	Christine Reppe,  Germany	James Pearce,  United Kingdom	Jen Warren,  United Kingdom	Finley Newmark,  United Kingdom	Kate Wooten,  United Kingdom, Central	Billy Gilbey,  United Kingdom	Natalie Bloomer,  United Kingdom

References[]

• "Prudential to sponsor Mayor's RideLondon Festival of Cycling". Retrieved 24 July 2016.

External links[]

• prudentialridelondon.co.uk Prudential Ride London official web site
• Goskyride.com, official website by British Cycling (no longer current since change in sponsor in 2012)