World Class Cycling Races Coming Through Chiswick
Will Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish be in the RideLondon Race ?
Chiswick may get a chance to see world famous cyclists such as Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish as top names are expected in the Prudential RideLondon cycling races on August 3rd/4th. The route which was announced by Mayor Boris Johnson today (Feb 7th) will take the cyclists out of central London and along the A4 and A316, over Chiswick Bridge heading towards East Sheen, Richmond Park and Surrey.
Laura Trott
The event is being billed as the UK's biggest mass-participation cycling festival with over 70,000 cyclists expected to take part in four events. Road closures and details of traffic changes will be announced in June. It is expected there will be significant disruption due to the volume of cyclists and UK fans lining up to support their heroes along the route. The race will visit thirteen of London’s boroughs.
Olympian Laura Trott has announced that she will take part although a list of big-names from international cycling have not yet been confirmed. However the RideLondon-Surrey Classic, featuring 25 teams of 6 riders, is sure to attract not only Britain’s top riders, but also some of the UCI World Tour’s top teams and riders who will relish the chance to race on such an iconic route, one year after the London Olympics. Laura Trott said she was looking forward to trying out Surrey’s hills on her bike. She said: “There are a lot of hills on that course and it is a long way. I’m coming down for a weekend and I can do it then.”
Ranked at the 1.1 level by the UCI, the sport’s governing body, the 140-mile Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on August 4th will bring the ‘classic’ one-day style of racing back to Britain, and is regarded as the first direct legacy of the London Olympics.
A large version of the route can be viewed at www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk.
The routes for the two big races on August 3rd and 4th will take the cyclists up the A4 from the start at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, along the A316 over Chiswick Bridge and onto East Sheen before heading to Richmond Park and onto the Surrey Hills where the riders will tackle the climbs of Box Hill and Leith Hill.
They will then return via Cobham, Esher, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Putney and over Putney Bridge to follow the river and to finish in the heart of the capital on The Mall beside Buckingham Palace. Unlike the Olympic road race, the 140 mile Surrey Classic won't do multiple ascents of Box Hill, but it will incorporate three circuits featuring Leith Hill each lap.
Aside from the Surrey 100 and Surrey Classic, there will also be a free eight mile mass-participation ride - FreeCycle- and the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix races, which will take place on a 1.3 mile closed circuit around St James’s Park.
Both the 100 mile sportive and the 140 mile UCI 1.1 road race will follow very similar routes, which will be similar to the course that was used for the 2012 Olympic road race..
The Mayor Boris Johnson is planning on taking part. Over 50,000 entries for the 100-mile cycle challenge were received. "This will be a veritable feast of the velocipide," he said at the launch today. "I've been conscripted into the Prudential RideLondon Surrey 100. My training plan is currently undeveloped but I'll be a chiselled whippet by the end. Anyway, what sort of training do you need? It looks like a piece of cake."
For further information, visit www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk.
February 7, 2013