The future of RideLondon looks all but over with an announcement this afternoon that the cycling festival and sportive are on “indefinite pause” following a strategic review.
In a statement published by RideLondon’s organiser London Marathon Events, it was communicated that “the world’s greatest festival of cycling” would not be returning from its hiatus this year, the 2025 edition having been scrapped following reported Transport for London opposition to it closing the newly opened Silvertown Tunnel.
London Marathon Events said following a strategic review into the event’s future direction, specifically financial and operational factors, RideLondon was placed on an “indefinite pause”.
The statement continued: “First held in 2013 as a legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games, RideLondon has delivered ten successful editions, inspiring more than 500,000 people to take part in one of its mass participation rides. The event has also raised more than £85 million for charity, making a lasting impact on communities and causes across the UK.
“RideLondon was originally held in partnership with Surrey County Council and ran annually until 2019. The event was paused in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before returning in 2022 in collaboration with Essex County Council. The tenth and most recent edition took place in May 2024 – all editions have been delivered by London Marathon Events.
“While RideLondon will not continue in its current format, its legacy lives on in the thousands of riders it inspired and the charitable contributions it enabled. Future efforts will focus on expanding access to cycling and promoting active travel across London and beyond.”
The sportive and festival have not been run since 2024, last year’s edition cancelled amid reports TfL opposed a required closure of the newly opened Silvertown Tunnel.
At the time, London Marathon Events said it hoped that the “hiatus” would allow them to return with “new concept” to involve “more riders of all ages and abilities”.
The sportive initially saw participants ride into Surrey, following the same route as the 2012 Olympic Games road race. However, with support for the event thinning at Surrey County Council, and frustration over road closures from some sections of the community, RideLondon was moved to Essex in recent years, following the 2020 and 2021 editions falling foul of the Covid pandemic.
In November, we reported that London Marathon Events’ chair Terence Duddy had resigned from the company, as well as his role as chair of BBC Children in Need, following a conviction for careless driving.
Duddy was handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for a year and a half, and banned from driving for 18 months following the incident, which left a female cyclist in her 50s with serious injuries.
The 69-year-old was driving his BMW SUV in the village of Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, in June when he cut across the opposite lane and into the path of the oncoming cyclist, striking her and sending her flying over her handlebars.
13 thoughts on “RideLondon is no more: sportive placed on “indefinite pause” following “operational and financial considerations of event’s future””
“Bloody London Marathon! Roads closed! Can’t get anywhere! Folk trapped in their houses all day! And I bet none of the buggers have paid any Road Tax!!”
-said absolutely no-one!
Here here, I concur…. Bloody runners running everywhere, on the footpaths, in the road and on cyclepaths, ban them I say or make them pay road tax and fine them for not wearing hi-viz, or when they wear hi-viz/day-glo as a fashion statement!!!
Let’s all get in or tractors and blockade Parliament, then they’ll have to U-turn???
Without wanting to defend the cycle-haters who objected to RL simply because it was people on bikes, that’s not really a fair comparison. The London Marathon runs through a pretty small area of London and the whole course runs through neighbourhoods where public transport, including disabled-access public transport, is abundant. I can understand why some people in rural Essex and Surrey who are far more reliant on their cars might be frustrated about road closures. Not all of them are driven by cycle hatred (although doubtless a significant proportion are), some of them are just people who want to go about their normal Sunday business unhampered. I must admit, if I lived in a rural area with only one viable road in and out and I found I couldn’t take my bike out on a Sunday because that road has been closed for a car rally, I’d be pretty narked.
That’s basically the case pretty much every day, though, isn’t it?
Really? If it was one day a year I really wouldn’t care. I might have a brief whinge if I had forgotten about it and had to cancel plans but I wouldn’t actually complain to anyone who matters.
I have to deal with twatty drivers in their cars every time I go on the roads. For one day a year people can celebrate bikes or at least suffer in silence at the horrible inconvenience of not being able to get in their cars.
Its just depressing isn’t it. Massive cycling event that raises millions for charity, is run on a weekend but no, apparently thats far too disruptive to the fucking miserable bastards who hold sway with this sort of thing. Maybe we should start organising mass cycling events outside these official ones to really press home the message that if they can’t be run legally then they will be run illegally with all the downsides and none of the upsides.
Critical mass?
Not a surprise, the small but very vocal minority that always complain about the road closures made enough noise to the councils who chose the easy life.
With regards to the Ride London, as I partially predicted here…
https://road.cc/content/news/ridelondon-hiatus-2025-due-new-car-tunnel-310721
and
https://road.cc/content/news/ridelondon-take-hiatus-2025-310287
While I must say that I enjoyed Ride London I’ve enjoyed audax more. If you want to a cycle challenging distance over an interesting parcours you should give audax a go. There’s none of the bike snobbery I’ve encountered on a Sportive; there’s no ‘good luck getting around on that’ and audax is all the better for it.
Slightly different use cases, though. If all you want to do is enjoy a long ride and maybe meet a few new people then Audax might scratch that itch, but it’s not going to have the same appeal to those who are after the sense of occasion, the fundraising challenge aspect, etc.
Could not agree more!
Reminds me, i need to rejoin and start riding 200km rides again!
I rode RideLondon in 2024 as my first (last?) imperial century and, honestly, I disliked the event except for the arrival over Tower Bridge with high-fiving fans (pretty cool). The course through Essex was not very interesting, and it was dangerous with the number of muppets riding. I witnessed a number of significant crashes due to idiocy, plus drivers on the course (!). While I can’t profess to riding a big number of mass events, Ride London was not one I look fondly on and would not have ridden it again.