The eyes of the cycling world turn to Utrecht this weekend as the 102nd Tour de France begins in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, 220 miles away, details are being finalised for L'Etape London by Tour de France, the official legacy sportive of the world's most prestigious cycle race. This extraordinary sportive gives riders the opportunity to follow in the tracks of the pros and re-create much of the 2014 stage 3 Cambridge to London section on Sunday 27 September.
L'Etape London will offer a choice of three routes, 42, 92 and 117 miles, each one carefully planned to treat riders to something a little bit different in celebration of the Tour de France. The sportive starts and finishes at Lee Valley VeloPark, home of the 2012 Olympics, which will also house a bustling event village that includes a Tour de France museum and professional leg shaving experience - as well as a few surprises that have yet to be revealed.
After cyclists leave the event village in carefully managed waves they reach the départ réel, a point just outside Epping Forest where riders' times will start to be registered at a 0km marker. From there everybody will be directed north to Saffron Walden, where L'Etape London meets the historic tour route.
Riders will have the opportunity to re-create the epic battle between Jan Barta and Jean-Marc Bideau as they head through Finchingfield and Braintree. They can then lead their own peloton like Andre Greipel through Chelmsford before returning to the Lee Valley VeloPark and completing a lap of the acclaimed one mile closed road circuit. The last kilometer of the sportive will be a separately timed race section with the fastest rider receiving what organisers promise is a "rather special prize".
Win a place on L'Etape du Tour
To coincide with the start of the 2015 Tour de France, everybody who enters L'Etape London by Saturday 4 July has the opportunity to win one of three entries into this summer's L'Etape du Tour. Those who think they are ready to take on this epic cycling challenge should enter 'tour' into the free text box when entering.
This year's L'Etape du Tour takes place between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and the La Toussuire-Les Sybelles resort town on 19 July. Places are notoriously hard to get hold of, but Tour organisers ASO have supplied three places exclusively for L'Etape London riders.
Limited entries into L'Etape London by Tour de France are available now by visiting http://humanrace.co.uk/cycling.
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