A BARNT Green resident and former England international footballer who survived leukaemia, is taking on the 3,300km challenge ‘Le Tour – One Day Ahead’ with 10 amateur cyclists for charity.

Geoff Thomas and his team are riding the entire 2015 Tour de France route, taking on each of the 21 stages, one day before the professional race, in a bid to raise £1million for Cure Leukaemia, the blood cancer charity he is patron of and owes his life to.

The cyclists are travelling in convoy from London to Amsterdam, via road and Eurotunnel, before taking on Stage One of the race, and they are due to finish in Paris on Saturday, July 25.

Geoff Thomas received a live-saving stem cell transplant from his sister Kay thanks to Cure Leukaemia co-founder, Professor Charlie Craddock, and the professor invited the team to take a tour of the Centre for Clinical Haematology in Birmingham before they set off.

Geoff said: “When I first took on the Tour de France route ten years ago, it was my fellow patients – some of whom weren’t as lucky as me – that were my inspiration.

“Giving the riders a glimpse of what leukaemia patients have to go through, and the wonderful work of Professor Craddock, has given them a good insight into where the money they’re raising is going.”

The riders who include 39-year-old Helen Russell, an amateur triathlete from Bromsgrove, are aiming to raise £50,000 each for the charity.

She added: “Meeting the patients has put everything into perspective. This is so much more than a bike ride, it’s about saving lives, and we can all play a small part in that. Walking through the cancer unit brought back some personal memories, as that is where my mother was treated. I just felt she was looking down saying ‘this is the right thing to do’, to try and give back to the people that supported her.”