Organizers of the RideLondon Surrey Classic and the RideLondon Classic announced Thursday that Prudential will end its title sponsorship this year and is looking for a new funder for 2021.

Prudential has been the race's title sponsor since 2013 and will continue through this year's race, scheduled for August 16. The race has been part of the Men's and Women's World Tour since 2016.

"Prudential has played a pivotal role in building Ride London into the world's largest cycling celebration as the founding headline sponsor of the Mayor of London event," Hugh Brasher said.

"In 2019, Ride London attracted over 100,000 riders to seven different events on closed roads in London and Surrey, with over five hours of live coverage of the UCI World Tour men's and women's races on BBC TV. Over the years, the festival has inspired more than 100,000 new riders and riders who had taken a break from cycling to get back into cycling.

"What's more, it is now the largest one-day cycling fundraising event in the world, raising over £77 million for charity in its first seven years. [It has been a fantastic seven years and I would like to thank everyone at Prudential for their great support of Ride London. We now have a unique opportunity for a new partner to help us evolve this special event, which can play an important role in shaping the health and well-being of future generations.

Ride London organizers have already taken a hit last summer when the UCI announced that the Women's Classic event would not be included in the 2020 Women's World Tour. RideLondon changed this year's race dates to avoid conflicts with the Tokyo Olympics, but they overlap with the Ladies Tour of Norway (August 13-16) The UCI wants to avoid overlapping races in the top series, and the UCI has said that it will not allow the women's WorldTour to be included in the 2020 WorldTour, which is the first time a women's WorldTour race has been held in the same city as a women's race.

At the time, Brasher tried to reopen talks with the UCI in hopes that the UCI would reconsider adding this year's one-day race to its calendar, but to no avail.

The Prudential RideLondon Classic offers prize money on par with the RideLondon-Salley Classic men's event and is known for promoting equality between men and women in cycling since joining the Women's World Tour in 2016. Last year, €100,000 was offered for the women's one-day race, with winner Kirsten Wilde taking home €25,000.

Brasher told Cycling News at the time that this year's race will be held on a new 12 km circuit. He also said that organizers will offer team entry fees comparable to the men's World Tour, continuous live television coverage, and a prize purse of 100,000 euros.

This year's race was not added to the Women's World Tour, but secured 1. professional status and will be held on August 15, the day before the men's race.

Ride London is not the only British event looking for a new title sponsor. The organizers of the Tour of Britain (2.HC) and the Women's Tour (Women's World Tour) have announced that OVO Energy has ended its title sponsorship of the event and is looking for a new leading funder.