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Prudential RideLondon 2019 finish (credit RideLondon).JPGRideLondon cancelled - all entrants to receive full refund
This year's Prudential RideLondon, due to have been held on the weekend of 15 and 16 August, has been cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Organisers have promised that all entrants as well as charities will be refunded in full for their places.
The decision to cancel the two-day event was taken by London authorities following consultation with partners involved in the event.
The weekend had been due to feature four mass participation events - the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 19, 46 and 100 sportives, plus Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle, as well as the Prudential RideLondon Cycling Show at ExCeL London and the Brompton World Championship Final.
It also included two professional races, the UCI WorldTour event, Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic and Women's World Tour event, Prudential RideLondon Classique.
Both of those were included in the revised 2020 racing calendar issued easrlier this month by the UCI, and are the first top-tier races to be cancelled from the updated schedule.
Last year's event attracted 100,000 participants across all events, and since it was first held in 2013, it has raised £77 million for charity.
Billed as a legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games, the event has been sponsored from the beginning by Prudential, who are ending their involvement this year, and a new partner is being sought for 2020 onwards.
> RideLondon looking for new headline sponsor from next year
Will Norman, the 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 by 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 sponsors, 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 that 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 that bought places in the 2020 Prudential RideLondon will be refunded their entry fee in full," he continued, a stark contrast to that adopted by the organisers of Vélo Birmingham & Midlands, where no refund was offered, and Vélo Essex, where only 45 per cent of the entry fee was returned.
“We are currently working with Prudential and the Mayor’s Office to see how we can celebrate the event weekend of 15 and 16 August.”
He added: “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 to fully review the format and timing of the event over the next few months.”
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.
Besides looking for a new sponsor, RideLondon may also see route changes in future for the men's road race and the sportives on the Sunday.
Earlier this year, Surrey County Council held a consultation about whether it should continue to host the event on its roads, including the climbs of Box Hill and Leith Hill.
Launching the consultation in January, it said that “If the Cabinet agrees not to host the event in Surrey, we are committed to run the event for the last time in 2021 in order to enable the event organisers enough time to find an alternative host.
“If the event continues to be hosted by Surrey it would be along a similar route with possible changes for operational reasons.”
> RideLondon boss urges Surrey residents to back event in council’s consultation
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
Get ready for the 'new normal' in which nothing is allowed even when nobody has corona anymore.
You can clearley see into the future so would you mind sharing the next 3 weeks lottery numbers please?
First time ever I got in on the ballot and a global pandemic breaks out! Typical! Oh well...
The organisers of Velo Birmingham + Midlands, Velo Essex should hand their heads in shame at the full refund being offered - but I suspect they won't, because they don't have any...
It sounds as though Prudential are underwriting all the costs. Presumably with their name being embedded into the name of the event they wouldn't want the association with people being left out of pocket.
Yes, it wouldn't look good for Prudential if they couldn't underwrite a risk!
Exactly this, Ride London had multiple sources of income & sponsorship,TfL and no doubt even goverment funding from the olympic legacy fund,which makes costs v losses and hence refunds easier to underwrite.
People seem very sure on there the money is coming from for the refunds - any evidence for this, or is it just pure speculation? Or is it that costs are not anywhere near as much initially as the Velo organisers would have us believe?
The actual email and the FAQs contain the line below which seems to indicate Prudential is covering the refunds.
"As the event is cancelled, do I get a full refund?
Everyone who has already paid for their place in the 2020 event will be offered a full refund, even if you have already withdrawn. We are extremely grateful to Prudential, the title sponsor of the event, for its support, which has ensured that this is possible. All refunds will be processed no later than 31 July."
I dont claim to know where the money would come from, only that the London & Surrey Cycling partnership who are the company who organise Ride London, and who file annual accounts available at companies house if you want to view them, look to have been much more financially secure running their event than Velo Birmingham who themselves admitted made losses of millions.
Ride London sells out every year, they have a headline sponsor, they have partner sponsors, theres been in the past certainly goverment funding,they even get to run a set of UCI pro races,with live tv coverage,so they are in a much better position to be able to offer a refund, and yes their headline sponsor almost certainly doesnt want to be negatively associated with a non refund due to lack of insurance for global pandemics.
A shame but somewhat inevitable really. Let's hope a sponsor can be found and it can continue to run in 2021.
Let's hope so. My time last year in the dry was 5h07, but with about 11 minutes of stops (yes I have to pee!) I really felt like I had run a marathon afterwards. I'd like to get under 5h proper, but will be 44 next year.
I signed up for Birminham this year as closed roads make a big difference to a sportive experience. This 'full refund' business from London makes the no refund policy from Birmingham look like a shambles. Thinking of making a claim through my bank.
44 years old.....I am 10 years your senior and I was hoping to break 4h30m this year, but alas no joy, but with a little luck it will be back and I will have the money back to enter again....another year old, so I can get faster
Well maybe I can keep improving, or find some nice fellas to tow me around.
36kph for 100miles, that is serious good going, top percentile stuff. Do you even stop once?
46, and dipped under 4:15 last year (had to do the run in from Box on one leg and solo after cramping badly) - 5 hours is definitely doable if you got close with all those pee stops
Wasn't 2020 the last year of the current contract? Before all this there was already doubt as to whether the contract would be renewed. With the added long-term uncertainty about how any mass event can be managed in future I suspect RideLondon will never run again in its current form.
Yes, it says so in the article. The event organisers were already looking for a new headline sponsor. There was also doubt about the format due to the increasing Nimbyism in the area. Talk was of taking it on a loop to the north and east of London but CV19 took care of any tenative plans. Was looking forward to doing it again this year but not surprised at the decision.