Organisers of the HotChillee London-Paris have announced the route for the tenth edition of the three-day ride, to take place on June 20-22.
More than 400 riders will cross the start line near Hampton Court ahead of the 500km ride to Paris.
Hot Chillee founder Sven Thiele said: “Designing the route for The London-Paris takes a huge amount of organisation. We want to provide our riders with a good mix of riding – from tough climbs to fast flats, keeping them away from busy roads and allowing them to see some beautiful and interesting towns and villages en-route.
“Now in its tenth year, we continue to change the route every year to find the perfect ride.”
Stage one, which traditionally finishes in Dover, has changed significantly and now finishes in Folkestone. HotChillee say the 161km first leg is “on par, if not harder than previous years but takes riders on a more scenic journey to the coast before crossing to France.”
The ride will take the six seeded speed groups, lead cars, ride captains, motorbike outriders and mechanical support through Surrey, to Sussex, and into Kent.
The route will take the riders through the Ashdown Forest, where the 1km ‘Green Sprint’ section will determine who will wear the ICAP sprinter’s jersey, before the opening ‘Red Section’ tackles The Wall in Newbridge to battle it out for the King of the Mountains prize.
The GC stage comes at 134km and is a short 4km dash for the first yellow jersey of the 2013 London-Paris. It’s then onto the home straight to Folkestone where the riding is done for the day but, before that, there’s one final sting in the tail as Knoll Hill gives riders’ legs a final test.
Stage two will take the riders 169.8km south from Calais to the historic city of Amiens. The route rolls through the French countryside but there’s little time to enjoy the scenery as the 7km ‘Red Section’ comes after 37km to test the legs.
Once riders have summited they have a 10km descent in which to recover and then it’s straight into the undulating GC section, lasting approximately 20kms. The ride then winds through Fressin and Vieil Hesdin before the ‘Green Section’ sprint ahead of the lunch stop in Frevent.
After lunch, with the race sections done for the day, riders will need to contend with the crosswinds for the final 70km through Le Souich, Sorton and Poulainville, via a mix of climbing, flats and descents, with the final 20km into Amiens a much-needed downhill section.
The third and final stage takes riders from Amiens to the centre of Paris. The day starts with a steady climb south out of Amiens through Plachy-Buyon. After 25km riders will have their last chance to compete for the yellow Jersey. At the end of the GC section, it’s downhill through Abbeville, St Lucien and Bresles.
Around 80km in the riders are met with the ‘Red Section’ for the final push to be King of the Mountains, before the last ‘Green Section’ at 93km and an undulating ride to lunch. All 400-plus plus riders will then ride together as one peloton on the remaining 40km with a Police Nationale escort into Paris for a Tour de France-style finish and champagne reception.
