London cycle hire race to be held at Smithfield Market

The London cycle hire scheme was launched in 2010

The capital's first official cycle hire race is to be held in east London on Saturday 7 June.

Thirty people are expected to race the course around Smithfield Market, Transport for London said.

The five-lap Barclays Cycle Hire race is part of London Nocturne - a series of night time sprint and endurance cycle races to be held in east London.

Competitors will be racing on the blue cycle hire bikes, or "Boris bikes" as they have become known.

Special edition yellow cycle hire bikes will also be released to celebrate the Tour de France coming to London.

After two stages in Yorkshire, on Monday 7 July about 200 elite Tour de France cyclists will travel from Cambridge, through Essex, into London before finishing that stage on The Mall.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "Exactly a month before the Tour de France rolls into our great city, the London Nocturne will kick-start another sensational summer of cycling in the capital."