London will come to standstill for UK’s biggest cycling festival

 

Motorists were today warned to avoid much of London this weekend as the capital hosts the biggest cycling event ever seen in the UK.

About 20,000 amateur and professional cyclists will take part in the Prudential RideLondon festival on Saturday and Sunday.

This will require the greatest scale of road closures since the Olympics, with “hundreds” of roads including 11 Thames bridges, Hyde Park Corner, Hammersmith flyover and the southbound Blackwall tunnel all closed at different times.

The disruption will spread through Richmond and Kingston to the outskirts of Guildford, with main roads and country lanes in Surrey closed to traffic. Drivers are being warned that parked cars will be towed away.

Restrictions will also be in force in central London on Saturday when up to 50,000 people are expected to take part in a free event on an eight-mile circuit in Westminster and the City.

Transport for London fears a huge backlash from drivers amid concerns that many have failed to realise the scale of the disruption.

TfL commissioner Sir Peter Hendy said: “This is the largest event London’s streets will have seen since the Olympics. Hosting such an event means we must close to traffic many bridges and hundreds of roads.

“During the London 2012 Games Londoners and businesses took sensible steps to plan ahead and adapt their travel. I’m urging everyone to do that once again.”

Prudential RideLondon event will see cyclists, including Boris Johnson, set off from the Olympic park between 6am and 8am on Sunday and follow the route raced by Bradley Wiggins in last summer’s Olympics. This heads for the cycling “holy grail” of Box Hill in Surrey before returning via Wimbledon and Putney.

Maps and details of the events and road closures are available at tfl.gov.uk/prudentialridelondon and gosurrey.info.

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