In case you had missed the information on Wednesday, the UK’s largest biking sportive, RideLondon, won’t occur in 2025. It should mark the primary time that the mass-participation bike journey will skip a 12 months – aside from throughout the pandemic – since its inception in 2013.
One may assume, provided that it has appeared extremely profitable within the years it has run, with 1000’s of individuals this 12 months, that there was one thing else behind the official cause given – that this was a “pause” with a view to reform. In any case, why would you cease one thing from operating if every part was going effectively, even when the RideLondon Classique just isn’t occurring subsequent 12 months, both.
The cancellation of the 2025 occasion has occurred amid different pressures on biking within the UK, whether or not that’s the common anti-cyclist noise within the UK media, the removing of different biking occasions from the calendar, and biking charges dropping to pre-pandemic ranges to offer simply three examples. Given RideLondon is considered one of most public shows of biking within the UK, maybe it’s no shock that it has develop into the goal for criticism; Tony Blackburn, veteran DJ and writer of Poptastic!: My Life in Radio, even recommended a closed-road automobile occasion ought to occur as an alternative. This 12 months, a bicycle owner participating in RideLondon suffered critical spinal accidents after being hit by a automobile driver in Essex, based on police. Councils are beneath large monetary stress, earlier than the anti-cycling brigade start to criticise them for closing roads for biking. It could not be a shock had been this the problem.
Nevertheless, having spoken to the three stakeholders concerned within the occasion, London Marathon Occasions, Essex County Council, and Transport for London, formally, there isn’t a ulterior motive behind the hiatus. It’s nonetheless a puzzle why it’s not happening – if the London Marathon had been to be cancelled for a 12 months, there could be far more debate – however on the report, there seems to be no subject right here.
Requested if RideLondon had been paused due to a failure to discover a native authorities companion, a spokesperson denied this.
“We really feel the time is true to take a pause and convey all stakeholders collectively to work on a brand new idea for RideLondon,” they mentioned. “We’ve got now held ten massively profitable editions of the occasion and impressed greater than 300,000 folks to get again on a motorbike or cycle extra typically. The occasion has additionally raised an unimaginable complete of greater than £85 million for charity. The occasion didn’t happen in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic and that pause enabled us to place in place many adjustments and enhancements to the occasion, together with the partnership with Essex County Council. A hiatus in 2025 permits us to reimagine the occasion for future years.
“We’ve got an settlement with Essex County Council for the occasion to happen in Essex till 2026. They’re eager for the occasion to return to the county in 2026 and we will likely be working intently with them to develop our future plans for the occasion.”
A spokesperson for Essex CC reiterated this: “RideLondon and Essex County Council have a 3 12 months settlement for the occasion to happen in Essex till 2026. We’re eager for the occasion to return to Essex in 2026.”
In the meantime, TfL merely directed us in the direction of the assertion from London’s biking and strolling commissioner, Will Norman, from Wednesday: “It’s a unbelievable occasion to have a good time biking that brings collectively cyclists of all ranges, from freshmen to skilled athletes,” he mentioned. “I’m dedicated to working with all companions to carry again this massively common occasion sooner or later.‘’
Formally, then, no thriller. It truly is only a hiatus. We will likely be watching intently to see if it does return in 2026, as all of us hope for. RideLondon is not occurring with a view to “reimagine” it for the longer term.
