Riders gearing up for 10th London-Paris

London-Paris, one of the world’s most prestigious and best organised sportives, rolls out from the capital this Thursday for the 10th time.

The three-stage, 507km ride, from event organiser HotChillee, offers rolling road closures, motorbike outriders, ŠKODA lead vehicles, Mavic neutral service and mechanical support to its record 750 riders, a world away from the 13 who lined up for the first edition in 2003. 

Among the faces on the Imber Court startline will be Stephen Roche, capping his Triple Crown 25^th anniversary celebrations, and the man who succeeded the Irishman as world champion in 1988, Italian Maurizio Fondriest. 

2004 Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt, four-time CapeEpic winner Karl Platt, Formula One legend Nigel Mansell and former England Rugby captain Will Carling are just some of the other sporting legends making the trek to Paris. Mansell will be warming up by riding from John O’Groats in support of the charity he currently presides over, UK Youth.

Team BikeRadar-Madison are all set for action, too, after months of training toil during Britain’s rotten summer. You can read about their progress over on Cycling Plus’s blog. 

While this year’s edition has long since filled up, entry to The Alpine Challenge, which takes the idea of London-Paris and translates it to the Alps, is still open. Visit the website for more.

Fancy a challenge yourself? Then head over to our new fitness site BikeRadar Training. It’s a free online resource for you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailored training plans, see how you’re doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.