SOME of the nation’s biggest names in cycling - including Olympic medallists - will cycle alongside ordinary enthusiasts in a major national bike festival.

Members of Wheelbase, one of the UK’s most successful cycling teams, came to Stockton to promote the three day cycling festival which attracts some of the country’s leading cyclists.

This year, Olympic medallists Nicole Cooke MBE, Ed Clancy and Ross Edgar will compete in festival which starts on Friday, July 11 and finishes on Sunday, July 13.

The event will begin start with an evening race spectacle with Olympian and five-time world Track Cycling World Champion, Ed Clancy.

Hundreds of riders will then take part in the Velo29-Altura Endeavour Sportive on Saturday and on Sunday Commonwealth and Olympic gold medallist Nicole Cooke will be co-present the Street Velodrome, Britain’s only pop-up track racing style cycle event.

A televised race, called the SportPursuit StreetVelodrome Series, will also be held for the first time since the Stockton event was launched in 2011.

Sunday’s Family Festival Day has cycling-related activities for the whole family and participants are invited to bring their bikes and join other families for RideStockton. This free family cycle takes place on traffic free roads along the River Tees at 1pm.

Peter Riddell, Recreation Manager for British Cycling, said: “The whole weekend is going to transform Stockton and it is great to see cycling taking centre stage. We have some incentives and rewards for people who sign up for RideStockton - the mass participation family ride - including limited edition items for the first 1,000 registrants and special bibs for the first 1,000 children.”

Visit www.stockton.gov.uk/cyclingfestival to find out more.