A major cycling event will be coming to the Maldon district again in May.

One of the routes, the RideLondon Classique Stage One, will start and finish in Maldon on Friday, 27 May.

All this year's RideLondon events will take place from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 May. There will be three traffic-free routes, starting in central London and travelling through Essex.

The 30-mile route has been designed to suit all abilities and takes riders up to the Essex border.

For riders who want a challenge, the 100-mile route journeys through the Essex countryside up to Great Dunmow, before joining a section of the 2014 Stage Three Tour de France route.

As well as the three ride challenges, Essex will also be hosting two stages of the RideLondon Classique, a three-day UCI Women's WorldTour road race. From 27 to 28 May, some of the world's greatest teams and riders travel through London and Essex.

The Essex County Council website now has a page with full details of volunteering opportunities, community grants, free tickets for county-based charities and other benefits of the RideLondon event for local residents. You can access the information using the link here.

Road closures

To ensure safe and smooth running of the event road closures will be in place along the route.

Friday 27 May:

Temporary road closures of 15 to 20 minutes will operate for stage one of the RideLondon Classique. Areas affected:

Maldon (main area affected)

Braintree

Chelmsford

Colchester Saturday 28 May:

Temporary road closures of 15 to 20 minutes will operate for stage two of the RideLondon Classique.

Areas affected:

Epping Forest (main area affected)

Braintree

Chelmsford

Uttlesford

Sunday 29 May

More than 100 miles of road closures will be in place throughout the day – significantly impacting central and east London, plus some areas of Essex – for the RideLondon-Essex 100. Areas in Essex affected:

Chelmsford

Epping Forest

Uttlesford

A detailed interactive road closure map can be found on RideLondon's website using the link here.