LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson will be among 25,000 amateur cyclists drawing international attention to the "stunningly beautiful" Mole Valley this summer.
The 48-year-old politician has confirmed his participation in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 event on August 4, despite his worries he will drop dead on Box Hill in "scenes of mass hilarity".
Event director Hugh Brasher told the Advertiser the Mayor's involvement, along with live television coverage of professional riders tackling the 100-mile course, would confirm Surrey's reputation as a mecca for cyclists.
Mr Brasher, who is also director of the London Marathon, said bringing the event through Mole Valley was "a bit of a no-brainer" after it was used as an Olympic venue last year.
"The Olympic road race showed London and Surrey off in an amazing way to the world and just showed some stunningly beautiful scenery," he said.
"As a legacy event for the Olympics, I don't think you can be more inspired than by riding on the roads that Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and the rest of the team were cycling."
A new convert to the sport, Mr Brasher – son of Olympic gold medal runner Chris Brasher – has road-tested the route for himself.
He said: "I only live in Twickenham and yet I was cycling through these Surrey villages and going, 'how on earth did I not know that these villages and these pubs were so close?'"
He added: "This is the first year of this event and I think people are incredibly excited about it.
"A few are rather daunted about Leith Hill and, having ridden Newlands Corner, Leith Hill and Box Hill, I can say Box Hill is a mere speedbump compared to Leith Hill.
"I think the event will go from strength to strength. We want to make this the greatest charity fundraising cycling event in the world.
"That will take time, but I absolutely believe that this course is intrinsic in making it happen."
Prudential RideLondon consists of four separate events taking place on the weekend of August 3 and 4: the FreeCycle and the Grand Prix (both taking place in central London on the Saturday), and the RideLondon- Surrey 100 sportive and Classic on the Sunday.
Mr Brasher said it was too early to reveal who would take part in the Classic, but promised big names from the world of professional cycling.
"The teams only have to announce their nine riders 40 days before the event," he explained.
"We know some of the teams that are taking part, and we know some of the fantastic cyclists they have in those teams, but they don't actually declare that team until the beginning of July.
"We want to make sure that when we make that announcement, people can really start getting excited about seeing some phenomenal cyclists."
For full details, visit www.PrudentialRideLondon. co.uk
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