News: Cycle Show 2012 set to be gold medal worthy

After a fantastic year for British cycling, the Cycle Show 2012 has pulled out all the stops to match, with an impressive list of the world’s top exhibitors and their best ever line up of celebrities.

The show will feature an array of Olympic and Paralympic medallists from London 2012, including Lizzie Armistead, Sarah Storey, and Joanna Rowsell, who will be opening the show to the public on Friday 28 September and Saturday 29 September. Other guests include mountain bike legend Steve Peat, track stars Rob Hayles and Ed Clancy and Ben Hucke from the world of BMX.

From 28 to 30 September visitors can enjoy all their favourite features from last year’s show, including a chance to test out the very latest road bikes from the likes of Trek, Specialized, Moda, Bobbin and an abundance of the latest electric bikes on the WASP Road Bike Test Track.

If that’s not enough, the Dare2b Outdoor Mountain Bike Demo Track which is hidden away in woodlands surrounding the NEC will offer the chance to test out 2013 mountain bikes from the likes of Specialized, Diamondback, Rose, Trek, Pivot, Moda and Madison.

New for 2012 is the Tour Ride Sportive taking place on Sunday 30 September. Visitors will join professional riders from top teams including Rapha-Condor and Raleigh-GAC as they take to the roads of Warwickshire for the last Tour Ride of 2012. Choose between the 150k pro and 96k challenge ride.

The Saturday Supercrit will also be a first for the 2012 show, bringing with it some of the UK’s top cyclists, including Ed Clancy, 2012 King of the Mountains, Kristian House, Ian Bibby, Ian Wilkinson and the Downing brothers. With nearly 200 exhibitors confirmed for the show, you can guarantee there will be something that takes your fancy. Italian giants Pinarello, Colnago and Cinelli are set to wow visitors with high-spec road bikes, whilst Specialized UK will have many of their 2013 bikes with Specialized staff, from advisors to BG Fit technicians, on hand to answer any questions.

Aside from bumping into some of this year’s biggest celebs and having the chance to talk to the experts, there will be numerous product launches, demonstrations, competitions and freebies for visitors to make the most of. With it being Raleigh’s 125th anniversary, there will also be a special entrance to the show this year featuring a selection of impressive vintage advertising from Raleigh’s archive.

The BMX Arena will be hosting a breath-taking display of stunts and tricks as the best of British stunt riders battle it out for a cut of a £5000 prize purse. The full arena schedule is listed below, for a full list of show highlights visit: www.cycleshow.co.uk/highlights.

There is also plenty to see in our Cycle Arena over the weekend, including An Audience with Sir Chris Hoy, Joanna Rowsell and Lizzie Armitstead.