The London-Paris is billed as the closest you can get to the experience of riding the Tour de France. Just like Le Tour, London-Paris features rolling road closures, mechanical support and motorcycle outriders. The only thing missing is the constant buzzing of the helicopters overhead!

This year intrepid LPers Liz and Phil were amongst 300 riders taking part in this 520km challenge - you can find out how they got on here.

A fast and flowing 13km course and perfect conditions made for some thrilling racing this weekend, with London Phoenix out in force at the Ginger Smallwood Memorial Event hosted by Kenton RC.

Stuart Jones led an early break of seven that stayed clear for 65km, and by the final lap they were comfortably out of sight and looked to have the race sown up with a lead of over a minute.

But with 1/2 lap to go Alex Christians kicked clear of the main group and lead a 3 man break on an audacious 6km high speed chase worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. Unbelievably he managed to catch Stuart’s lead group on the final turn before the finish, and the long sprint to the line saw him take 5th place with Stuart on his wheel in 6th. Pretty incredible stuff.

All in all it was a great show of team work, with Phoenix working hard at the front to ensure the two breaks got clear, and with Matt Harper, Richard Lam and Ken Iino putting in solid performances to finish comfortably near the head of the main group, though out of the points.

But the day belonged to Alex and Stuart who put in truly stunning rides, and who were unlucky not to be on the podium. Well done guys, that was truly awesome.