The 2013 IG London Nocturne is less than five minutes from starting.
Taking place around London’s historic Smithfield Market, it’s RoadCyclingUK’s home race and one with an impressive track record of delivering excitement and big name competitors.
If you’ve missed our IG Nocturne 2013 coverage so far, you’re in the right place to catch up.
You can check out our interview with 2011 winner, Alex Dowsett (Movistar) by llowing this link. Dowsett will return tonight as one of an elite club of British riders to have won a Grand Tour stage after his stage eight time trial victory in last month’s Giro d’Italia.
Olympic champion, Joanna Rowsell, will roll out for Wiggle Honda with her team-mates from Great Britain’s women’s team pursuit squad, Laura Trott and Dani King.
The IG Nocturne will be the first time the trio has raced in London since winning that eent across town at the Olympic Park nearly 12 months ago. Read Rowsell’s thoughts on the Olympics, the Nocturne, and the growing profile of women’s road racing.
Irish crit race champion, Felix English (Rapha Condor JLT), and Madison Genesis neo-pro, Chris Snook, will feature among the riders rolling out to take on Dowsett and Movistar team-mate, Benat Intxausti, in a bid to prove that the domestic teams can hold their own against the WorldTour elite.
We headed out from RCUK Towers with a camera to capture the sights of the 2013 IG Nocturne as the excitement builds in Smithfield.
Event director, James Pope, and event manager, James Tibbetts, of the Face Partnership were out on the course making final preparations when we snapped them.
James Tibbetts told us his 30-strong support crew had begun work at 7am and were entering the final stages of preparing the course.
Racing starts at 4pm with urban cyclo-cross, and heats of the folding bike race get underway at 4.50pm.
Riders will roll out for the Leigh Day Kermesse at 5.10pm, before the 10-lap Wiggle Women’s Challenge and IG City Criterium races at 6pm and 6.30pm respectively.
The Brooks Penny Farthing Race starts at 7.10pm, ahead of the Schwalbe Track Criterium at 7.50pm.
Folding bike racing will return to the circuit at 8.30pm, before the racing ‘proper’ starts at 8.50pm with the Rapha Elite Women’s Criterium.
Some of the best female riders in the world will go wheel-to-wheel for 30 minutes and five laps, before the final race of the night gets underway at 9.30pm.
The Norglide Elite Criterium will close the show, with Dowsett, Intxausti, and riders from Britain’s top teams go into combat.
Check back later for a full report.
