A West Lothian architect is hoping to raise £30,000 for a cancer charity by cycling the entire route of the Tour de France a week ahead of the professionals.
Keith Vance, a 46-year-old architect with Dick Peddie & McKay in West Calder, will be one of 25 amateur cyclists to cycle the same route as the professional cyclists in the world’s biggest annual sporting event.
The amateur race, called ‘The Tour 21’, aims to raise £1,000,000 in total for the charity Cure Leukaemia.
The Tour 21 will take place for just over three weeks, from June 24 to July 17, and follows the same route as the Tour de France - all 3328km over 21 gruelling full-day stages.
Keith is one of 19 amateur cyclists who have been chosen so far from a global pool of applicants for the 2022 tour - and just one of two from Scotland so far, with another rider based in Glasgow.
Keith will be joined by former England and Crystal Palace footballer, Geoff Thomas, who is also a leukaemia survivor aided greatly by the Cure Leukaemia charity.
All funds raised from the event will be invested directly into the national Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) network.
Cure Leukaemia began fundraising from January 2020 - allowing them to open and run clinical trials for pioneering treatments for the disease, one such trial is currently running in Glasgow.
Funds raised from The Tour 21 will continue to allow over 20 million patients to have access to potentially life-saving treatments.
Keith will be visiting the Livingston Designer Outlet from March 4 to March 5 next month to speak to locals, raise awareness for the Cure Leukaemias campaign, and to answer questions about his upcoming race - all while riding a stationary bike.
Keith, originally from Northern Ireland, spoke about being chosen to join the roster of cyclists The Tour 21, he said: “It’s always been a ‘never going to happen’ dream for me to ride the full route of the Tour de France, ever since I first started cycling when I was 13 years old.
“To be able to raise funds for Cure Leukaemia is very special to me, growing up I vividly remember my neighbours young daughter dealing with Leukaemia and the process she had to go through just to survive.
“Those kind of things stick with you, and to see what people like Geoff Thomas have been able to achieve with the help of Cure Leukaemia.
“It’s going to be a huge undertaking for everyone involved between fundraising and training - at the moment I’m just trying to get in as many miles as I can.
“Obviously £30,000 is a huge amount of money, but any support at all is appreciated.”
You can keep up to date with Keith’s training on his Justgiving page, where he posts daily updates of his cycle routes and times on Strava.
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