RideLondon cyclists diverted as air ambulance called to incident

Some cyclists taking part in the RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive were forced to miss out nearly a quarter of the route following a serious crash in Pyrford on Sunday morning.

A spokeswoman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: “At some point he unfortunately had hit a tree”.

Organisers released a picture showing the diversion, which began at West Byfleet and looped away from the original route before rejoining it at Ripley.

The initial diversion to route riders around the crash site was devised there and then, while the new one, from mile 44, was a planned diversion to be used in case of delays.

Emergency services, including paramedics and several air ambulances, were called to Warren Lane in Pyrford, Surrey at 9.05am.

Amateur riders were sent on a longer diversion via Old Woking to rejoin the course at Ripley following the first crash.

Box Hill has become a popular attraction for cyclists, particularly after it featured prominently in the London 2012 Olympic cycling road race.

Dom Cotton tweeted: “Bad RideLondon crash nr Ripley…”

More delays struck as the race was aired live on the BBC, when, at around 2.30pm, the professional race was suspended for 30 minutes due to the earlier congestion.

The RideLondon 100 follows much of the same route as the Olympic road race.

Among thousands taking part Sunday in other RideLondon races were reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome and retired middle-distance track star Kelly Holmes, who won two gold medals for Britain at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

A RideLondon spokeswoman initially said that as far as organisers knew, all participants had been able to get through via the diversion.