A shortlist of six firms are in the running to organise next year’s two-day London cycling festival.
Some huge names, including the owners of the Tour de France, ASO, have thrown their hats into the ring for the event next August, which hopes to attract over 100,000 cyclists across the weekend. It will be the first large scale event to be held in the Olympic Park following the Games and if plans are followed through, it’ll become the largest mass participation cycling event on the planet.
The first day of the festival would involve a family ride for up to 70,000 cyclists on an eight-mile loop of closed roads around central London. The following day up to 35,000 amateur, club and world class elite cyclists will tackle a 100-mile course that will begin in the Olympic Park and be based on much of the route of the 2012 Games cycle road race. Subject to UCI approval, the elite race will become part of the international calendar, giving Britain its very own 'Classic'.
The six organisations, who have until mid-April to submit formal proposals, are listed below. A final decision will be made by the Mayor of London's team before the start of the Games.
- Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) - owners of the Tour de France
- IMG - owners of the London Triathlon and the Etape Caledonia
- Limelight Sports and Participate Sport (Joint Venture) - Limelight Sports are sub-contractors for the Olympic Road Cycling Race and Participate Sport are the organisers of Cycletta, the women only bike ride series
- London & Surrey Cycling Partnership - comprising the organisers of the London Marathon and SweetSpot Group (organisers of the Tour of Britain)
- Nova International - owners of the Great North Run (and the new Great Manchester Cycle)
- Upsolut - organisers of the Triathlon ITU World Championship
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “The high quality of the shortlisted organisations is a clear demonstration of their confidence in London’s ability to host a world class cycle festival. With the Games just around the corner, the investment to date is already paying off, and my team is hard at work developing the events that will help us showcase our great city to the world for many years to come".
