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Olympic Road Race and Time Trial comes to the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames

06 July '05 by admin, under Community, Olympics.

Hamton Court will witness both the Olympic Road Race and the Time Trial

Updated 5 May 2012

We’re really lucky to have both the Olympic Road Race and Time Trial events coming to the Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames in 2012. Here’s an opportunity to see the Olympics up close for free, without having to buy tickts and it may be the opportunity to witness Team GB’s first Gold medal of the games! On Sunday 14th August 2011, the Olympic preparation road race (The London-Surrey Cycle Classic) took place, with the streets of the borough full of spectators cheering on the top cyclists in the world, in a race won by British rider Mark Cavendish.

We’ve created this page to collate useful and interesting information relating to the events and we’ll keep it up to date with the latest information, so don’t forget to check back.

To find out routes to cycle to the Borough to watch the events, and where to find cycle parking, check out our Cycle Route Planner: http://richmond.cyclestreets.net/ We hope LBRUT Council will use the Olympics as an opportunity to improve cycling infrastructure for all those who will come to watch the events by bike.

Olympic Road Race – July 2012

The men’s road race takes place on 28 July 2012 starting at 10am on the Mall. The women’s race starts at 12noon on the following day, 29 July. More on schedules on the official Olympic site.

The official road race map can be found at:

Olympic Cycling Road Race – Full Route

Here’s a more detailed map of the outward route of the Olympic Cycling Road Race, as it crosses Putney Bridge, passes by Barnes and East Sheen, before entering Richmond Park at Roehampton Gate. It exits the park at Richmond Gate, then heads into Richmond, crossing the bridge before heading to Twickenham and Teddington town centres. It then goes through Bushy Park (I wonder what side of the fountain!) before crossing the Thames at Hampton Court.

Map of Olympic Cycling Road Race through Richmond Borough – Outward leg

On the return leg, they again cross Hampton Court Bridge then head towards Kingston Bridge. Passing through Kingston town centre, it returns to Richmond Park through Kingston Gate, leaving through Roehampton gate and it is then on to Putney, crossing the Thames again.

Map of Olympic Cycling Road Race through Richmond Borough - Return leg

You can ‘cycle’ the road race route in Surrey from the comfort of your armchair with this speeded up video:

We’ve uploaded the full detailed Olympic road race route through Surrey, including Esher, Leatherhead, Dorking, West Byfleet and Weybridge onto Bikely. In April 2011, we organised a ride that followed the Olympic route (though at a more sedate pace!) – Find out more about the ride here

Over on the excellent London Cyclist Blog, there’s a review of the Box Hill section of the Road Race, including a detailed route map and photos. This 15.5 km section of the route will be lapped nine times by the male competitors and twice by the women - Box Hill Guide to the Olympic Cycle Route

Olympic Time Trial Event – August 2012

The 1st August 2012 sees both the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Time Trial events, with the women off first at 12:30 and the men following at 2.15pm.

The course will start at Hampton Court with a 44 km loop that will take in Esher, Teddington, Kingston and Twickenham before returning to the palace. British cyclist Emma Pooley, the former World Time Trial Champion will be a favourite to watch on the day.

The offical detailed Olympic time trial route map can be found at:

Olympic Cycling Time Trial – Full Detailed Route

Cycling Weekly Magazine has produced a run down of the profiles of the British Cyclists for the London 2012 Olympics for all categories – Road, Track, BMX. Have a read and see just who will be representing Britain and who are the hopefuls for medals.

Olympic Road Race Event Trial – Sunday 14th August 2011

On Sunday 14th August 2011, a trial event took place for the men’s Olympic Road Race, called the London-Surrey Classic. This was to test the route and logistics, and as an International Cycling Union (UCI) level event, all the serious Olympic contenders attended, many of whom had raced the Tour de France the previous month. The route was the same as the actual Olympic race – see the links to detailed maps of the routes above.

There were some great photographs taken of the day, which we’ve linked to below. British cyclist Mark Cavendish, fresh from winning the Green Jersey at the Tour de France as the race’s best sprinter (the first British rider ever to do so!), won the race in a thrilling sprint on the Mall, boding well for the real thing next year. Read this write up from Road.cc for more.

From Waldopepper – Photos going through Bushy Park
From David Wimblett – Lead group coming through Teddington
From HaleyShark – Video of the riders coming through Teddington
From Laurence Buchanan – Riders about to go over Richmond Bridge
From Roger Crouch – Large crowds to see the riders zoom through Twickenham
And last but not least, the spectacle of an amateur who managed to gate crash the course, coming through Richmond Park with the main race group! Read more about it in the article from GoingGoingBike.

Olympic Torch Relay

The Olympic flame will be carried through the Borough on 24 July, entering at Ham Parade at 9.48am (they’re very exact!) and leaving via Kew Bridge at 11.24am. Here is a detailed map of the Olympic flame route through the Richmond Borough (including a little kink in Kew). It will also pass by the boundary of the borough on 27 July, when it will be carried along the Thames (presumably not by a swimmer!) from Hampton Court Bridge and downstream, starting at 5.30am. You can find out more on the official Olympic Torch Relay website.

Travel Advice
If you are concerned about travel distruption during the Olympics, the Get Ahead of the Games site, developed by Transport for London on behalf of the Olympic Delivery Authority, London 2012, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency, National Rail and the Mayor of London, has the information you need for all the Olympics, not just the cycling events.
There are specific pages with travel information and advice (and detailed maps of the routes) for both the Olympic Road Race and Time Trial with advice on how to plan ahead to make your journey easier during the events. The same site also has encouragement to consider cycling to work during the games instead of driving on congested roads or using public transport (good advice for any time, not just the Olympics!).

Richmond council put the following information on their website for the 2011 test race, which may be useful to know for the main event:
Route & info - http://tinyurl.com/4ykt4vs
Road Restrictions and bus route changes - http://tinyurl.com/3ltpsya
List of changes to be made to street furniture - http://tinyurl.com/3l9rh26

Olympic Legacy for Cycling

We’re hoping that LBRUT Council will seize the opportunity the Olympics coming to the borough brings and not just treat it as an inconvenience. The high cost of Olympic tickets and the difficulty in obtaining them will mean that for many, this will be their only opportunity to see the Olympics up close. There are significant economic benefits to local businesses throughout the borough from people visiting and spending their money. When the Tour de France came to London in 2007, it was estimated by TfL that the event ‘directly generated £73 million in London, £15 million in Kent and a further estimated £35 million from publicity’. Don’t just take it from us, read this TfL document to find out more:

Transport for London – The Tour de France, The Grand Depart, Research Summary

Press Coverage of the Olympics coming to Richmond

Finally, here’s some of the news articles covering the event. We’ll add new articles as they’re published, newer articles are nearer the bottom.

Surrey Today – Cyclists’ joy at Olympic road race on their doorstep

The Telegraph – London 2012 Olympics: cycling road race will ‘bring the magic of the Games to life’, says Sebastian Coe

The Guardian – London 2012 cycling road race should suit Mark Cavendish

The Telegraph - London 2012 Olympics: International Cycling Union approve one-day test road race

The Evening Standard – 2012 Olympics time trial cyclists to start and finish at Hampton Court

The Telegraph – London 2012 Olympics: Cycling time trial could favour Team GB’s Emma Pooley following route announcement

Kingston Informer – Olympic Test Race coming through Kingston this Summer

Richmond and Twickenham Times – Few Complaints of Disruption for Olympic Cycle

BikeRadar – Details Revealed of Olympic Road Race Test Event