A Walthamstow man joined ex-England footballer Geoff Thomas and 17 other amateur cyclists to take on the Tour de France course in aid of charity.

The team of cyclists, led by ex-England footballer and blood cancer survivor Geoff Thomas, completed the full route on Sunday, one week ahead of the professionals.

Richard Edghill, of Walthamstow, and the ‘Tour 21 Team’ rode 3,400km raising more than £1,000,000 for blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia.

Cure Leukaemia Patron Geoff Thomas was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours just days before setting off for France.

The former midfielder who captained Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final, made over 450 club appearances for Palace, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Crewe, Rochdale, Barnsley and Notts County and he was capped nine times for England.

He retired in 2002 and was then diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in the summer of 2003 and given just 3 months to live.

Geoff said: “Six weeks ago, it didn’t look like this event could take place and yet here we are in Paris having not only completed one of the toughest ever Tour de France routes but, more importantly, we have achieved our goal of raising £1,000,000 for the charity that helped save my life 18 years ago. I am immensely proud of the whole team including those who weren’t able to join us in France, the crew led by Andy Cook and everyone involved with the charity back in the UK. Without all of these people this event would not have happened.”

Cure Leukaemia Chief Executive James McLaughlin said: “We suffered a £1,700,000 fundraising shortfall in 2020 and that is why it was so important that Geoff and The Tour 21 team could complete the event some of them have been training for since 2019. Ensuring this event could go ahead has been a herculean effort from so many people and I would like to thank everyone that has played a part in making The Tour 21 a success.

“To raise £1,000,000 is incredible and I want to thank all of the riders, their families, friends and colleagues because taking this event on requires enormous sacrifices long before the start."