Velothon Wales is a brand new world-class amateur sportive and professional race set to deliver a weekend of cycling on a scale never seen in Wales before.
Taking place on 14 June 2015, Velothon Wales looks set to mirror the success of RideLondon, combining a 10,000-rider closed-road sportive and a UCI-sanctioned professional race designed to attract many of the world’s top riders and teams.
The sportive route, which begins and ends in the heart of Cardiff, will take in 120km of Wales’ most beautiful landscapes. It’s not all about the scenery though – riders will be tested against more than 1,400m of climbing including Caerphilly Mountain and a King of the Mountains Challenge on The Tumble climb in the Brecon Beacons – as featured on stage nine of this year’s Tour of Britain.
There’s also a 50km route for those wanting to enjoy the unique feeling of riding on closed roads without quite such challenging terrain.
Following the sportive, participants can join thousands of spectators to watch the conclusion of the UCI pro race. The Velothon Wales professional event’s UCI grading won’t be announced until the body releases its calendar in late September, but the route is set to use the same course as the sportive, with the pros taking on multiple loops of the Tumble climb and Caerphilly Mountain.
Velothon Wales is the latest event in the UCI Velothon Majors, a global series of cycling events organised by Lagardere Unlimited Events. Other events in the series include Velothon Berlin, Velothon Vienna and Velothon Philadelphia. Since its inception in 2009, Velothon Berlin has grown to be one of the world’s biggest and most iconic cycling events, welcoming over 14,000 riders and the world’s top pros including the likes of 2012 winner Andre Greipel, 2013 winner Marcel Kittel and 2014 winner Raymond Kreder.
Velothon events aim to combine mass participation riding with top-flight professional racing
Velothon Wales race director, Roland Hofer, said: “We know there is a huge appetite for world-class cycling events, particularly in light of RideLondon where over 80,000 people the ballot for the 2014 event.
“Having worked as Race Director for Velothon Berlin since 2009, I am hugely excited to be part of the team that will be delivering Velothon Wales. Each year Velothon Berlin attracts a stellar elite field which, combined with thousands of participants taking on the exact same route, creates a truly memorable day of cycling. We are looking forward to Velothon Wales emulating its success in every respect.”
Velothon Wales organisers have been working closely with British Cycling for over a year to bring this enormous new event to fruition.
Jonny Clay, Cycle Sport and Membership Director for British Cycling, said: “We are very excited with how the project has developed. Bringing together elite level road racing with mass participation events has proved to be a very exciting and successful method for staging major events in recent years and I’m confident that we will have thousands of people eager to take part, either as participants or spectators.
“When you add the natural landscape of Wales and the vibrancy of the city of Cardiff, there is no doubt that Velothon Wales will be memorable event, not only for 2014, but for many years to come.”
Velothon Wales looks set to be a tentpole event on the British cycling scene, so entries are likely to sell out quick. Slots will be priced at £55 for the 120km route and £40 for the 50km route. While spots for the event are not yet on sale, you can pre-register now using the promo code BIKERADAR to give you a 20 per discount during a week-long ‘Priority Entry Window’ which ends on 15 September.