Cavendish confirmed for Olympic rehearsal race

Cavendish, winner of five stages of this year’s Tour de France including the final stage in Paris on Sunday - becoming Britain's first winner of the green jersey for the race's best sprinter- will complete the Olympic route alongside 148 of the world’s best athletes.

He said: 'I saw the route map for the road race course when it was released earlier this year and since then I’ve been looking forward to testing the Olympic course at the London Surrey Cycle Classic.
 
'I’m coming into the event off the back of a fantastic Tour de France – the British fans out there were brilliant and their support really helped to spur me on, but you can’t beat the support of a home crowd and I’m hoping the fans will turn out at the test event to support me and the rest of the team.'

Cavendish will ride for the GB Cycling Team along with four other GB athletes. Also provisionally on the start list are Matthew Goss (AUS), who won the 2011 Milan-San Remo Classic, and former Olympic gold medallist Stuart O'Grady (AUS). 2005 World Champion Tom Boonen is leading a strong Belgian team while Norway are focussing on the event with Edvald Boasson Hagen, winner of two stages of this year’s Tour de France, lining up on the 14th.

The 1.2 graded race, which is 140km long, is being hailed as one of the most exciting and high profile of the London 2012 test events, passing through six London boroughs, four Royal Parks and a looped route around Box Hill in Surrey.

London 2012 Chairman Seb Coe said: 'This is going to be a fantastic race and our course, with its interesting route and impressive technical elements, has attracted the best nations and pro cycling teams in the world so this really is a trial run for the games in 2012.

'However, as with any major road event, in particular one that moves through so many different areas of London and the South East, there will be a significant impact on traffic and transport. We want to draw attention to this to make sure people plan their weekend accordingly.'

Fans are encouraged to cheer on the competitors from points along the route but are advised to avoid the Zig Zag road of the Box Hill area in Surrey, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and therefore has restricted access.

The race starts at 9am and ends by 1pm at the Mall in central London.

With road closures in place from as early as 4am and many roads will not re-open until around 3pm, residents living along the route and spectators planning to travel to watch the race are advised to avoid using the roads if at all possible and to plan their travel in advance by visiting www.tfl.gov.uk/testevent, www.londonpreparesseries.com and www.gosurrey.info


LONDON SURREY CYCLE CLASSIC PROVISIONAL START LIST:

British Professional Teams:
Cyclepremier – Mataltek
Endura
Motorpoint
Rapha-Condor-Sharp
Sigma Sport
Team Raleigh
Twenty3c-Orbea
Team Corley

European Professional Team:
An Post Sean Kelly

National Teams:
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
England
France
Great Britain
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Morocco
Norway
New Zealand
Poland
Russia
Slovenia
United States of America


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Notes to editors:

Useful websites:
http://www.londonpreparesseries.com/roadcycling
http://www.gosurrey.info/
www.tfl.gov.uk/testevent
www.royalparks.org.uk

LOCOG’s detailed testing programme, which is branded the ‘London Prepares Series’, will see world class sporting events in London 2012 Olympic venues in the lead up to the Games.

As it heads towards its £2bn budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-four domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, Next, The Nielsen Company, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Ticketmaster and Trebor.

There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games Partner, Sainsbury’s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Supplier, Otto Bock.

The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for London 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.