BoJo’s bikes come out on top in Top Gear-style cross-London race

BORIS’ bikes finished first in a Top Gear-style cross capital challenge to help raise hundreds for a blistering skin condition charity.

The race was between staff from catering company Vacherin, which runs the Whitechapel Gallery Dining Room, on the Mayor’s new hire bikes, London Underground, by taxi and car and took off from Canary Wharf, ending in west London’s Hammersmith.

The triumphant cyclists, including Vacherin’s commercial director, Phil Roker and Anna Morris (pictured), made their way through the City and West End along the Embankment, around Leicester Square, past Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park Corner and Harrods until they reached their destination in Hammersmith in 59 minutes and 40 seconds, beating the others by minutes.

The tubers came second in one hour, one minute and 19 seconds, followed by the taxi in one hour, two minutes and 10 seconds. The car took the longest at one hour nine minutes and 52 seconds.

Phil said: “We were thrilled to find that we had come first in the challenge but it’s amazing how quickly you can get through some of the busiest areas of London on a bike.”

The competitors raised money for DebRA, the national charity working for people with Epidermolysis Bullosa, a genetic condition which causes painful blistering of the skin and can be fatal.