Ride from Liege to London to benefit children around the world
Mark Cavendish debuts his rainbow jersey at the start of the Giro del Piemonte (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Mark Cavendish was on hand to unveil Right to Play’s next charity ride last night at an event held by Specialized in London. The ride will take participants from Belgium to London, cycling 300 miles from the Tour de France start in Liege to the Olympic Park in London.
Cavendish will of course be lining up at the Tour to defend his green jersey but participants in the ride will be able to watch the start of the Tour before their own challenge begins. For Cavendish, the charity is close to his heart and is one he has represented and supported since the early stages of his career.
“I bought into it straight away and everything they do and I’ve always been a massive supporter since. It’s so easy to look at a charity and you can’t really relate to it. I can relate and understand what Right to Play do because it helps underprivileged children through sport.”
The event will be Right to Play’s fourth annual bike ride and includes all accommodation over the three day event, as well as full support.
Sports Development Manager Leo Matlock told Cyclingnews that the charity’s desire to work within cycling had increased with a number of ambassadors, such as Cavendish, coming on board.
“Firstly, cycling is a sport and we’re the world’s biggest sports and development charity with partners all around the world and one of these, first and foremost, was HTC-Highroad, which was to begin with Team Columbia. We became their official charity partner and had our logo on the jersey and had access to the team,” Matlock told Cyclingnews.
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“We then began with a number of ambassadors, Mark Cavendish, Matt Brammeier, Mark Renshaw, and Bernhard Eisel. We recently recruited Specialized as a global partner in a global deal for three years. We then use cycling as way to fund raise, with bike rides.”
To find out more and to register for the event click here.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
