Tom's epic 3,000-mile cycling journey

CYCLING IN MEMORY OF HIS DAD FOR CHARITY

- ANDY PHILLIPS

A 40-year-old dad from Saltash has followed in the tyre tracks of professionals on one of the toughest cycling routes in history to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.

Tom Neal took on the 3,000-mile route which made up the 1951 edition of the Tour de France one of the most challenging routes in the history of the race.

Starting off from Metz on June 1, Tom rode up to 200 miles a day every day for 26 days, including 53,000m of climbing - the equivalent of ascending Mount Everest six times.

Entirely solo and unsupported, Tom cycled the across plains of northern France, through the Massif Central - the largest upland in the country across the Pyrenees, through the Alps and north to Paris.