HTC to sponsor Smithfield Nocturne (+ Video)

There’s just over a fortnight to go now before the streets around London’s historic meat market get turned over to an evening of what, over the last three years, has proven to be an absorbing evening of bike racing, and this year the event has a new headline sponsor, leading to it being renamed the HTC Smithfield Nocturne.

HTC, of course, needs little introduction to cycling fans thanks to the Taiwan-based mobile phone handset manufacturer’s sponsorship of Mark Cavendish’s HTC-Columbia team, news of which was celebrated by the Manxman with an appropriate hand gesture – no, not that one, but the ‘I’ll phone you’ one – while crossing the line ahead of Thor Hushovd to win Stage 3 of last year’s Tour de France.

Besides the main event, which will draw Britain’s leading pro teams , currently getting plenty of practice of city centre crits in thanks to the Halfords Tour Series, the evening also features a support race as well as the Folding Bike Race and Fixed Longest Skid Competition. Other featured races – full details are available on the event website – are the the City of London Team Challenge as well as a special Architect and Developer Race, which ties in with the London Festival of Architecture which gets under way on the same day, Saturday 19th June.

Last year's event attracted a 10,000-strong crowd, and certainly the spectators and participants interviewed for the following short video seemed to thoroughly enjoy the evening.

Florian Seche, Vice President of HTC EMEA, said: “Cycling is the perfect sport to align with the values of the HTC brand,” says Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC EMEA. “We are pleased to be able to be able to support such an innovative festival of cycling which celebrates both the high performance of the elite competitors as well as the more fun and friendly aspects of the sport.”

James Pope, Managing Director of Face Partnership which organises the event, added: “HTC is an exciting brand which will help us make the 2010 Smithfield Nocturne the most exciting event to date. We are looking forward to working together to enhance the spectator experience and bring some top riders to the streets of the City of London.”

As last year, other races in the Nocturne Series will follow, in Edinburgh on 3rd July and Blackpool on 8th August, and details of those can be found on the series website.