RideLondon to take "hiatus" in 2025 for organisers to work on "new concept", with all entrants receiving full refunds

2024 continues to be a tough year for cycling events and its organisers as RideLondon, the popular cycling sportive festival held in London every year since 2013 to celebrate the legacy of the 2012 Olympics, has been cancelled for 2025 as the organisers say the event is taking a "hiatus", and should return with a "new concept" to involve "more riders of all ages and abilities".

In its ten editions so far, the event has featured the now-cancelled three-day Women’s UCI WorldTour race RideLondon Classique, mass participation rides over 100 miles, 60 miles and 30 miles and FreeCycle. Past events have included the Brompton World Championship and the RideLondon HandCycle races and junior races, as well as the men's professional one-day road cycling race, the RideLondon–Surrey Classic, which used to loop from central London to the hills of Surrey and back before switching to a revamped route that incorporated the roads of Essex in 2022.

None of that will happen in 2025, with organisers saying change is needed for "the world’s greatest festival of cycling" going forward. London Marathon Events say all entrants who had registered early for the 2025 event will receive a full refund. 

The full statement from Hugh Brasher, the CEO of London Marathon Events that organises RideLondon, reads: “We feel the time is right to take a pause this year and bring all stakeholders together to work on a new concept for the world’s greatest festival of cycling. We have now staged 10 hugely successful editions of the event which has inspired more than 300,000 people to get back on a bike or cycle more and also raised more than £85 million for charity.  

“No event in 2025 means that we can focus on a full strategic review of RideLondon, which was first held as a London 2012 Olympic legacy event back in 2013, and design a new concept which will engage more riders of all ages and abilities and inspire hundreds of thousands more people to cycle more often.”  

> “A sad day for women’s cycling”: RideLondon Classique cancelled for 2025 as UCI “unilaterally” moves dates “without consultation or prior warning”

London's Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, said: “It’s disappointing news that RideLondon won’t be taking place next year; it’s a fantastic event to celebrate cycling that brings together cyclists of all levels, from beginners to professional athletes. I am committed to working with all partners to bring back this hugely popular event in the future.’’    

Councillor Lee Scott, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning a Growing Economy, said: “Essex County Council has been proud hosts of RideLondon for the past three years. Not only has this event brought substantial funding into our county to encourage physical activity but it has inspired many to get involved in physical exercise and take up active travel. We very much look forward to working with the organisers and partners on the vision for the event in future.” 

RideLondon 2024 (Jon Super for London Marathon Events)

It's not known what RideLondon will look like in 2025, however down the years, in London, Surrey and Essex, there have been various reports of ill-feeling about the road closures necessary to safely run the event, with Tony Blackburn calling for it to be replaced by an "event for car owners" (before claiming this was a joke). A cyclist was also seriously injured in a collision with a driver who left the scene in the 2024 running of the event. 

The first RideLondon took place in 2013, as a legacy event following the 2012 Olympics. It took place annually until 2019 but was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event has been held in partnership with Essex County Council for the last three editions.

> Tony Blackburn insists "joke" idea to replace RideLondon with "event for car owners" wasn't a serious suggestion

Things had been on a shaky ground for the event already, with organisers announcing in June that the popular UCI stage race RideLondon Classique had been cancelled for the next year. The race was first held in 2013 as a one-day race before being granted Women’s World Tour status in 2016, the same year that it became the richest women’s race in the world with a total prize fund of €100,000, equalling the now-defunct men’s RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

Since its expansion, Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes has proved the dominant force on the largely flat roads around Essex and the capital, securing a hat-trick and clean sweep of stages and the overall victory in 2022 and 2024, with only Charlotte Kool breaking Wiebes’ streak last year.

The cancellation came amidst a bizarre mix-up between the organisers and the UCI, as the pro cycling's governing body unveiled its 2025 calendar for both the men’s and women’s World Tours and with it the news that the RideLondon Classique has been shunted from its traditional slot in the last full weekend of May to the following weekend, in order to provide space for the trio of Spanish stage races – the Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia, and the Vuelta a Burgos – that take up most of the month. 

That date change – which London Marathon Events claims was made “unilaterally” and without consultation by the UCI – forced the race into an unexpected hiatus next year due to the protracted and complicated nature of planning events in London.

> Sportive organiser cites cycling industry’s “downfall” and sudden disappearance of loan offers as reasons for entering administration

And as such, RideLondon becomes the latest race to disappear from next year's road racing calendar which seems to keep shrinking by the day. Just yesterday, we reported that the Ryedale Grasscrete Grand Prix, first held in 2005 and part of the British Cycling's 2024 National Road Series, would not be making a return next year after Ampleforth Abbey Trust refused to host the race in its usual site in North Yorkshire.

The Tour of the Reservoir was also put on hold in 2023 and 2024 due to “a number of recent operational challenges”. The National Road Series also ended up losing the three-day Manx International stage race and the Stockton Grand Prix in 2023.