Tour of the Roses cycle route unveiled at launch
A CYCLE adventure across France has been launched.
The charity event – Tour of the Roses – will take place in September next year, and see 100 cyclists taking part to raise money for the Smile for Georgie Foundation.
The route was unveiled at a launch event on Saturday.
In case Covid regulations come back in, organisers Leon Howard and Gary Hooks decided to keep the route to a single country.
The route will start from St Malo and go south-east across the country, ending at Avignon. Cyclists are expected to take between 10 and 11 days to complete the 1,400 km route.
Mr Hooks said it would be a challenge.
‘We’ve added some mountains to keep everyone happy,’ he said.
‘The highest is about 2,600 metres.
‘That will be about a two-and-a-half-hour climb.’
There were 100 spots open and 60 people had already pre-registered before the event was even launched.
The organisers have been designing the route over the last six months.
‘There’s a lot of pent up demand for this [after the pandemic],’ Mr Howard said.
‘People will now have two full summers of training to get ready.’
It is planned that each cyclist will raise £1,000 each, with the money going to the Smile for Georgie Foundation.
It was established in January 2018 in memory of Georgie Le Prevost, with the purpose of making a difference in the local community through small acts of kindness.
Charity trustee Sarah Brehaut said it was wonderful to see such interest in the event.
‘It’s fantastic,’ she said.
The money raised will be used for a big project the charity has planned, which has not yet been announced.
