BBC Sport has confirmed that it is to broadcast live coverage of the 2014 Prudential RideLondon Women’s Grand Prix criterium race on Saturday, August 9.
The event, part of the RideLondon weekend festival of cycling, set up by the Mayor of London as a legacy from the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, will be staged on a 1.3-mile route in and around St James’s Park, with the start and finish on The Mall.
BBC TV’s commitment to screening live coverage of RideLondon 2014 includes a one-hour live programme covering the Women’s Grand Prix on the Saturday, alongside live action from the feature RideLondon-Surrey Classic and mass participation race on Sunday.
Held for the first time in 2013, the inaugural Women’s Grand Prix race was won by double Olympic champion Laura Trott, representing Wiggle Honda, in a spectacular sprint finish.
Trott thrilled the crowds on The Mall as she sprinted to win the inaugural race, beating her close rival Hannah Barnes.
The race was shown in highlights form on BBC One a day after during its coverage of Sunday’s mass-participation and men’s road race.
The BBC’s move to screen live coverage of the comes in a year in which women’s cycling has entered a fresh new era of expansion and wider recognition, including the inaugural Women’s Tour of Britain, screened by ITV4, and La Course, a new women’s elite professional race held on the same day as the final stage of the 2014 Tour de France, which will be shown on ITV4 and British Eurosport in July.
Hugh Brasher, Prudential RideLondon Event Director, said: “We have worked closely with the BBC to make this happen.
“This is a pivotal year for women’s cycling with the recent first Women’s Tour, La Course in Paris on the last day of the Tour de France and this race in the centre of London.”
The international field for the 2014 Prudential RideLondon Women’s Grand Prix will be announced in the coming weeks.
For further information about the 2014 Prudential RideLondon, visit the event’s official website.
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