Over the two days of action around the flat 1.3 mile course that starts and finishes in the Mall and loops around St James's Park, some of the world's top hand-cyclists and cyclists will be competing in a number of races.

The two British soldiers - Royal Engineers staff sergeant Steve Arnold, 33, and Ben Zissman, 24,- will be looking to put on a good show against their more experienced opponents as both are aiming to be selected for the British team heading to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

They will be up against winner of the H2 time trial gold and team relay bronze in London, Hanz Frei of Switzerland, Austria's Paralympic road race champion Walter Ablinger, H4 time trial and road race gold medallist Andrea Eskau, and the British pair of Rachel Morris, a gold medallist from Beijing 2008 and Karen Darke who finished fourth at London 2012.

Both soldiers, who have been training at a British Cycling training camp in Wiltshire run by the charity Help for Heroes are looking forward to pitting their wits against such a top-class field, according to Arnold, who lost both his legs when an IED exploded in Afghanistan during a tour of duty in April 2011.


His colleague Zissman (pictured top right), who was attached to the 21 Engineer Regiment of the Royal Engineers, was paralysed from the waist down after an explosion in 2010 while on tour with the Territorial Army in Afghanistan.

"I took up hand-cycling in 2011 at the Headley Court rehabilitation centre," said Arnold, who completed the 3,051 mile Race across America just a year after sustaining his injury.

"I wasn't ready for running blades, so it seemed like the obvious choice to get my fitness up.

"I loved representing my country as a member of the armed forces, and I'd love to represent my country in cycling as well.

"The Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix is going to be a tough field, the hardest I've ever raced against with guys coming from all over the world.

"I can't imagine what it's going to be like racing on the streets of London with all those thousands of people cheering you on.

"The atmosphere is going to be incredible - how often do you get to do something like this?

"It's going to be the best feeling ever."


The programme for the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix also features criteriums for youths and women, which will see Great Britain's double Olympic champion Laura Trott, team pursuit gold medallists Joanna Rowsell and Dani King 2013 world champion Elinor Barker headline the women's race.

As part of the festival, over 50,000 cyclists are expected to take part in the FreeCycle event in central London which will see eight miles of traffic-free cycling on closed roads, while on Sunday over 20,000 amateur riders leave the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and head out to Surrey before returning to the finish line at the Mall.

The final event of the weekend will see 150 of the top male riders in the world compete in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic over an extended route.

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