Manchester cyclist joins gruelling Tour de France based charity challenge for Cure Leukaemia

Eighteen amateur cyclists, including Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital’s Professor Rob Wynn, have officially begun the 2023 edition of The Tour 21 – in partnership with Flutter - this weekend, 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.

The Tour 21 brings together a group of amateur cyclists annually to take on the biggest endurance challenge of their lives, the Tour de France – one week ahead of the professionals. As of day one of the 2023 ride, 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.

Rob is one of just 18 riders chosen to take on this year’s route having been selected from a pool of 400 applicants. He is Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit in the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital – one of Britain’s largest and most innovative transplant programmes. Right now, several new cell therapies for kids with otherwise incurable leukaemia are open in Manchester, and kids travel to Manchester from all over the UK. He has spent nearly 25 years as a paediatric haematologist, treating children with leukaemia from Manchester, Liverpool, the North West of England and beyond.

“Over the past 25 years that I have worked in paediatric haematology, results for kids with leukaemia have improved greatly. Most kids are cured. But most is not enough.”

“In these last few years, new drugs, transplant and cell treatments have become available with an increasing number available with each passing month, developed by companies, in universities, and in laboratories.”

“These new treatments need to be tested in