The Tour de Helsinki is an annual

cyclosportive A cyclosportive, or often simply sportive, is a short to long distance, organised, mass-participation cycling event, typically held annually. The Italian term '' Gran Fondo'' is commonly used for these events in the United States, Australia and so ...

in the metropolitan area of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, the capital of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It takes place on the first Sunday in September. Start and finish are at the

Helsinki Velodrome Helsinki Velodrome ( fi, Helsingin Velodromi) is an outdoor velodrome, American football and field hockey stadium in Helsinki, Finland. The protected functionalist concrete building was designed by Hilding Ekelund. History It was built in 1938� ...

, originally built for the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

. The distance of the race, leading through the southern parts of the

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...

region, is 140 km. Every year, the Tour de Helsinki features some cycling professionals; e.g.

Kjell Carlström Kjell Carlström (born 18 October 1976) is a Finnish former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2011. He won the Finnish national road race title in 2000, 2004 and 2011. He raced in the Tour de Fran ...

, Kimmo Kananen and

Jussi Veikkanen Jussi Veikkanen (born 29 March 1981) is a Finnish former road racing cyclist, who rode as a professional between 2005 and 2015 for the and teams. He won the Finnish National Road Race Championships seven times between 2003 and 2014. Career Bor ...

have been participating in the event. In 2010 and 2011, also Minister

Alexander Stubb Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. He rose to politics as a researcher specialized in the affairs of the European Union and was elected to the European ...

was among the participants.

Number of participants

The event was first organized in 2007, by initiative of five cycling clubs from the capital region (Prologi, CCH, IK-32, Vantaan Pyöräilijät and Helsingin Polkupyöräilijät). The first event started with over 400 participants and one year later, in 2008, it had already grown to over 950 cyclists. In 2011, almost 2200 people participated in the event.

Notes

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External links

*http://www.tourdehelsinki.fi/index.php?id=27 Official event site. Road bicycle races Cyclosportives Recurring sporting events established in 2007 2007 establishments in Finland