Above: Rob Hayles celebrates his retirement from racing at Revolution 34. 'Killer' Hayles won't be living the sedentary life, between his ITV commentary commitments and training for the Etape Pennines closed roads event in October 2012!
IMG Challenger World, organizers of the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines, the first closed road sportive in England, are pleased to announce that Rob Hayles has signed as event ambassador for the 7 October 2012 event.
The announcement of England’s first closed road event in County Durham coincided with the news that British Professional Cyclist Rob Hayles was to retire from a long and very successful cycling career. Rob has been a stalwart of the UK road and track scene winning many domestic races and national championships and a three year spell with the French Cofidis team saw him riding some of the biggest one day races in the world. A 3 time Olympic medallist he has represented his country many times and acknowledges that his proudest moment came in 2005 when he won the World Madison title on the track with Mark Cavendish. He’s also a well recognised TV pundit providing regular commentary on BBC, Eurosport and ITV4 cycling coverage.
Retiring from professional cycling doesn’t mean that Rob is going to stop cycling and it’s fair to say he is looking forward to the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines as he knows the roads well and has relatives in the area: “I’m honoured to be named as an ambassador for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines for a number of reasons. Most importantly it’s for an incredibly worthy charity and I hope everyone taking part will help raise funds to enable Marie Curie Nurses to provide free care to people with terminal cancer. Secondly, as a professional cyclist I was able to ride on closed roads for a lot of races so to be able to do this in a more leisurely environment and share this experience with thousands of other cyclists in England’s first closed road event should be something special. It’ll also give me a reason to train and not sit at home with my feet up on the sofa like a lot of people are expecting me to do!”
James Robinson, Managing Director of IMG Challenger World, is happy to have Rob involved with the event: “We’re really pleased to announce Rob as an ambassador for Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines as he is one of the most popular riders in the UK and it is great to have him involved from the start. I know he will bring a lot to the day and will enjoy riding and talking to people the whole way round England’s first closed road sportive on 7th October 2012. “
Marie Curie Cancer Care is the official Charity Partner of the Etape Series 2012. All funds raised by cyclists taking part in the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines will enable Marie Curie Nurses to provide more free care and support to terminally ill people and their families.
For more information and entry details on the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines please visit www.etapepennines.co.uk
