The Tour de Helsinki was 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 som ...

in the metropolitan area of

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, the capital of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It took place on the first Sunday in September. Start and finish were at the

Helsinki Velodrome Helsinki Velodrome () 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 1938–1940 for the 1940 Sum ...

, originally built for the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

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

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; 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, Helsinki, alo ...

region, was 140 km. Every year, the Tour de Helsinki featured 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 Bo ...

took part in the event. In 2010 and 2011, also Minister

Alexander Stubb Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (, born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. Rising in politics as a researcher specialis ...

was among the participants. After 2015 the event was no longer held.

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