Friends to cycle Tour de France route in 60 days

Two friends plan to celebrate their 60th birthdays by cycling the entire 1965 Tour de France route in 60 days.

Tim Straughan and Simon Vallance will set off from Leeds on Monday and cycle across England, through Holland and into Germany before reaching Cologne, the official start of Le Tour in 1965, the year they were born.

From there, the pair, who are raising money for the Sue Ryder charity, will ride across France, over the Pyrenees to Spain, into the Alps and then finally cycle north to the end of Le Tour in Paris.

Mr Vallance said he came up with the idea to cycle nearly 4,500 miles (6,000 km) as he wanted to do something "mad" to mark the year he retired and turned 60.

"It took me a year to actually think about it and mention it to people as it seemed like such a crazy idea," Mr Vallance said.

"But I looked into it and investigated the route, then realised it could be a realistic proposition.

"I then mentioned it to Tim and he said it sounded mad enough for him to join in as well."

Mr Straughan said he wanted to get involved because he was "always up for a challenge".

He said: "I've done a lot of adventures with Simon and this looked like an amazing thing to do, as you don't normally have the time to do something like this over a couple of months.

"It gives us an opportunity to do something that is for a good cause as well."

The pair, who became friends at a running club in Leeds, have already raised more than £4,400.

Mr Vallance said they wanted to support Sue Ryder as the charity helped his father Peter when he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Mr Straughan celebrated his 60th birthday last month, while Mr Vallance will mark the occasion in September.

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