20 May 2020
2020 Prudential RideLondon festival of cycling is cancelled
It has been confirmed today that the 2020 Prudential RideLondon festival of cycling is cancelled. This decision has been taken by London authorities after engagement with partners involved in the planning of the event.
The eighth edition of the world’s greatest festival of cycling was scheduled to take place on the weekend of 15-16 August and feature four mass-participation events: the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 19, 46 and 100 sportives, plus FreeCycle, the free-for-all event that invites cyclists to pedal round seven miles of traffic-free roads in central London.
The festival was also due to feature two professional races: the UCI WorldTour Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic and Prudential RideLondon Classique in addition to the Cycling Show at ExCeL and the Brompton World Championship Final.
Will Norman, Mayor’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner, said: “RideLondon has been one of the highlights of the capital’s event calendar for the last seven years, so it is obviously disappointing that it cannot be staged this year. This summer we hope that millions of Londoners will alter their travel habits by making journeys on bike instead of driving or using public transport. But it is absolutely the right decision to cancel this year’s event to ensure the safety of everyone involved and we all look forward to welcoming RideLondon back again in the near future.
“The Mayor and I would like to thank Prudential, in their final year as title sponsor, for their support over the last seven years. We are already excited about the next RideLondon event.”
Hugh Brasher, Event Director of Prudential RideLondon, said: “We know how disappointing this news will be to the tens of thousands of riders who were hoping to participate in one of the fantastic events in the world’s greatest festival of cycling, for the thousands of charities which would have benefited from fundraising and for the world’s best professional cyclists who love racing on the streets of London and Surrey, but I am sure everyone will understand why this decision has been made.
“All participants and charities which bought places in the 2020 Prudential RideLondon will be refunded their entry fee in full.
“We are currently working with Prudential and the Mayor’s office to see how we can celebrate the event weekend of 15/16 August.
“2021 will be the first year of a new contract to deliver RideLondon and, with the current unknowns about the short-term future for mass participation events and the importance of inspiring as many people as possible to cycle more often, we’re taking the opportunity over the next few months to fully review the format and timing of the event.”
In its first seven editions, Prudential RideLondon has become the world’s greatest festival of cycling, with 100,000 riders of all ages and abilities participating in seven different events on traffic-free roads in London and Surrey. It has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to take up cycling or cycle more often and a total of more than £77 million has been raised for thousands of charities
Brasher added: “We know that there will be many, many questions from riders, charities and others and we ask you to please bear with us as we work through all the detail. We expect to be in a position to provide full updates to participants and charities by the middle of June. We will also post regular updates on our website and social media channels.”
Further information is available on the official website here.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Prudential RideLondon is the world’s greatest festival of cycling, developed by the Mayor of London and his agencies in partnership with Surrey County Council and is sponsored by Prudential. Staged for the first time in August 2013, it is the largest festival of cycling in the world with more than 100,000 participants cycling more than three million miles in seven different events over the event weekend: Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle, Prudential RideLondon Classique, Brompton World Championship, Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100, Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46, Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 19 and Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic. It also includes the three-day Prudential RideLondon Cycling Show.
- The festival features the two richest one day races on the professional cycling calendar: the UCI WorldTour Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic for men and the Prudential RideLondon Classique for women.
- Participants in the 2019 Prudential RideLondon events raised £11.5 million for charity, bringing the total raised for good causes to more than £77 million in the first seven years of the world’s greatest festival of cycling.
For further information, please contact:
Ryan Goad | Press Officer | London Marathon Events Ltd
e ryan.goad@londonmarathonevents.co.uk | m +44 (0) 7950 708574