London-Paris ride organisers to end current format in 2024 following Brexit complications

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.