ENTRIES open this Thursday (March 1) for British Cycling’s "Cyclosportive" between London and Canterbury on Sunday, July 1.

The event is a curtain raiser for Stage 1 of the Tour de France, which follows a near-identical route a week later.

Around 5,000 riders are expected to attempt the 117-mile route, starting in Greenwich and following the North Kent Coast, before turning inland and passing through Aylesford, Tunbridge Wells, Tenterden and Stone Street before the finish at Rheims Way, Canterbury.

There will be transponder timing and four feed stations along the route.

Entries go live on www.everydaycycling.com from 12pm on March 1 and cost £40, including a £2 voluntary donation to the Geoff Thomas Foundation.

Thomas, the former Crystal Palace and England midfielder who successfully battled leukaemia, will ride the stage in preparation for his own Tour de France fundraising challenge, an attempt to ride every stage of the 2007 Tour, two days after the professionals.

He said: "Since being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia, cycling has been a major focus of my recuperation. I’m delighted to be involved in this event and that it will benefit research into leukaemia."