Bellaghy’s Dermot O’Kane has joined 17 other amateur cyclists looking to complete all 21 stages of the Tour de France and raise money for Cure Leukaemia

Dermot O’Kane, 39, from Bellaghy is one of just 18 riders chosen to take on this year’s route having been selected from a pool of 400 applicants and will be the only cyclist from Northern Ireland on the trip. He was inspired to sign up for the event following the loss of a very good friend to a brain tumour in 2021.

Dermot said: “Damian was the first person that got me into cycling and whenever we were out on the road, we always spoke about heading over to France to take on some of the famous Tour de France climbs.

“When the opportunity arose to tackle such an iconic challenge as well as raising funds for Cure Leukaemia, it just ticked so many boxes.”

The 2023 edition of The Tour 21 – in partnership with Flutter - begins this weekend, with participants riding all 21

stages of the Tour de France just one week ahead of the professionals and aiming to raise over £1 million for blood cancer charity, Cure Leukaemia to fund trials to help those fighting

the disease such as Tour de France legend, Greg LeMond.

The Tour 21 has this year already raised over £725,000 - a huge accomplishment, but still with some way to go to their £1million target.

This year’s route, which traces a diagonal route from the Basque country to the German border, includes stages in the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Jura, the Alps and the Vosges.

At 3,404km long, it eschews the Mediterranean as well as most of the north and south of France, taking in two countries, six regions, 23 departments, and five mountain ranges – the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura, Alps and Vosges.

Dermot added: “The opportunity to just ride my bike for three and a half weeks with no other worries is something that will be new to me and just be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Being away from my family for that period of time will be a struggle with three young girls at home all under the age of six but I know they will all be supporting me from home.”

Cure Leukaemia chief executive James McLaughlin expressed his sincere gratitude to the team as they set off from Bilbao.

"I say this every year, but I am once again in awe of our team of dedicated cyclists who will be undertaking this year's Tour. Everyone at the charity are immensely grateful for the sacrifices made by each of the cyclists over the past 12 months in preparing for this incredible challenge. They set off from Bilbao safe in the knowledge that they are making a real difference to blood cancer patients across the world.

There will inevitably be highs and lows along the way, but what is important for the team is that they never lose sight of the difference that their fundraising will make for blood cancer patients across the world."

Dermot added: “Even the Tour de France’s greatest-ever stage winner, Mark Cavendish, who I bumped into at the route announcement, said the 2023 event will be the hardest he has seen in his career.”

Since 2020, Cure Leukaemia has been the Official UK Charity Partner of the race.

If you would like to assist The Tour 21’s fundraising efforts for this year, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/thetour21in2023