Cities cycle more than a million kilometres in the European Cycling Challenge [1]

Teams from 32 cities across Europe took part in the European Cycling Challenge, which runs throughout May every year and encourages teams of cyclists to see how many car and public transport journeys can be replaced with cycling.

More than 1.6 million kilometres were cycled, with the top three cities of Warsaw, Lodz and Rome accounting for more than a third of the total.

Participating cities in 2014 were located in Belgium, Estonia, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Italy had the largest number of teams with seven participating cities. The campaign demonstrates the international enthusiasm for cycling, even outside of countries traditionally associated with it.

The European Cycling Challenge is an initiative run by the city of Bologna (Italy) which first began in May 2012. The campaign has gone from strength to strength - in 2014 more than 9 000 cyclists participated, compared to just over 3 000 in 2013.

Additionally, the total distance increased fivefold from 313 000 kilometres in 2013 to 1.6 million kilometres this year.

For more information, visit europeancyclingchallenge.eu [3].