London and Partners announced here today that the proposed event in August 2013 will involve 70,000 participants for a ride around the capital's landmarks on day one, while day two will involve 35,000 riders, including 200 of the world's elite performers, in a 100-miles race.

Both events will take place on traffic-free roads and start in the Olympic Park, with the race likely to finish either on The Mall, as the Marathon does, or at another nearby iconic venue.

Speaking from the Team GB Olympic training base in Majorca, the World Road Race champion and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Mark Cavendish, added his support to the plans: "To have an international road race in the capital and to finish on one of the most iconic stretches of road such as The Mall would be a marvellous thing."

Dave Brailsford, British Cycling's Performance Director, added: "This will be great for London, great for cycling, and great for British Cycling. To have up to 100,000 non-professional cyclists coming together for a weekend's festival every year would be absolutely fantastic."

But as Ian Edmondson, Head of Major Events for London & Partners, pointed out, the race is now on to find an independent partner to help support the event, along with other stakeholders such as the Mayor of London's office, for an opening period of five years.

Jonny Clay, British Cycling's head of cycling sports, said that the Union Cyclist Internationale (UCI) would need to have a Partner in place for the proposed road race by July if it is to include it in its fixture list for 2013.

Clay, however, played down the possibility that a Partner may not be found in time to get the event running in 2013.

"I would be very, very surprised if that were to happen," he said.

"We have already been in discussion with the UCI, and they need to be involved in races that take place in iconic venues."

Edmondson declined to put a figure on what would be required from a Partner wishing to become involved in supporting the event for the first five years, but he told insidethegames: "We have got a number of possible partners in mind already.

"If you look around this room you will see a number of interested parties who have had experience of putting on these kind of events in cycling, triathlon and running.

"We feel that five years is a good period of time to become embedded in an event that we believe will evolve into something which will last for generations.

"People with vision started the London Marathon 30 years ago and now it has brought more than £100 million (£157 million/€119 million) to the UK economy. We want the same thing to happen here with cycling."

The race route has yet to be finalised, but it will use roads in London and Surrey on which this year's Olympic Road Race will be staged. The weekend's events will include event villages and festival activity within Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Hyde Park.

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