The leading London to Paris organised cycling event, officially partnered with the Tour de France in recent years, will run its current closed road format for a final time in 2024 on account of the ‘ever-growing complications of Brexit’ associated with organising an international cycling event.
The three-day closed-road event, organised by UK-based company Hotchillee, finishes each year beneath the Eiffel Tower a day ahead of the Grand Tour finale and is accompanied by a Tour de France escort.
The event, which has seen over 10,000 riders participate across two decades, is accompanied by extensive support cars and crew and has frequently been ridden by Tour de France winners and ex-pro cyclists, including Magnus Bäckstedt, Sarah Storey, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche.
While aiming to continue beyond 2024 in a new format, organisers have cited several difficulties in hosting the closed-road event over recent years, from carbon footprint to road closures to Brexit. Principal among the event's challenges, though, has been that organisers are no longer able to move competitor's bikes across the UK-France border frictionlessly.
Instead, the extensive customs arrangements necessitated by the UK’s departure from the European Union Customs Union have led to a spiral of costs and logistical complications.
The value of the entire fleet of participant bikes at the event was around £1.7m in the last year, an organiser explained to Cyclingnews. Without appropriate customs exemption paperwork, these bikes would be subject to full import charges when crossing the border.
As a result of this, organisers have been forced to account for each attendee’s bicycle and submit ATA Carnet forms for the complete shipment of bikes, in a change that has not only increased costs but vastly increased the risk of a major failure at the event if the bikes were to be held at the border.
Similar consequences to Brexit have been felt across the cycling industry, with the distributor of KTM bicycles in the UK citing Brexit as a main contributing factor in the company ceasing trading.
The final 2024 event will mark the 20th anniversary of the ride in its current format and will finish in Paris on 16th June, ahead of the Olympic Games.
In a statement, organisers said, “Wanting to offer a more sustainable experience for their riders, the increasing challenge of closing roads and securing permissions for race sections, combined with the ever-growing complications of Brexit, Hotchillee’s 20th-anniversary edition will be the last in the current format.”
Hotchillee Founder Sven Thiele said, “We've got to mix things up a bit, with a new format coming in 2025. So, we wanted to give our community one last chance to ride what has become the London-Paris Road format. We're making positive changes to offer a more sustainable experience for riders, but with the increasing challenge of closing roads and securing permissions for race sections, combined with the ever-growing complications of Brexit, our 20th-anniversary celebration will be the last in its current format.”
Hotchillee has also introduced a gravel version of the London to Paris ride, which takes participants from the Thames to the Seine predominantly off-road, finishing at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower. The gravel event will aim to continue in the wake of the end of the flagship road event will take place from 19-22 September 2024, with entries going on sale on 14 September 2023.
Tickets for the final 2024 road event are also available on Hotchillee’s website.
