Grand Prix Cycling in Sheffield city centre

Scores of cyclists enjoyed traffic-free roads on a glorious summer evening of Grand Prix racing in Sheffield.

Transcript

00:00 Hey, I'm Ed Clancy, three-time Olympic gold medalist and active travel commissioner here

00:15 in South Yorkshire now.

00:17 So today we're at the Sheffield Grand Prix which is part of British Cycling's Circuit

00:22 Race Series.

00:23 I rode this event a couple of times in my career as a professional cyclist between the

00:28 Olympic Games and I am pleased to be back here today as active travel commissioner and

00:33 in five or ten minutes time we're going to be starting a little community ride.

00:36 So I think we're set for a great afternoon and evening of racing.

00:41 [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd

00:48 noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd

00:56 noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [crowd noise]

01:04 [crowd noise]

01:09 Ed, what would you say to people who are complaining about the road closures and the

01:21 council being perceived as anti-car these days?

01:24 Yeah, so from my point of view, active travel is all about enabling freedom, independence

01:30 and choice.

01:31 I'm trying to give people another alternative and my ambition isn't to make life harder

01:37 for anyone.

01:38 So that's where my interest lies and you know, with it in the big picture, I think

01:43 everyone agrees on the benefits of active travel in terms of health, mental health,

01:49 life expectancy, reducing the burden on the NHS.

01:52 But yeah, you're right, it's my job to enable another choice, so that's my intention.

01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]