ABERGAVENNY is staying open for business during next week’s Festival of Cycling.

Organisers of the festival were keen to stress that in spite of some road closures on July 12 and 13, they hope the impact on the town will be limited.

Barriers will be placed at some street corners as part of the courses but organiser Bill Owen said that for an event of this magnitude, it is inevitable that some roads would have to be closed off around the circuit as has been the case in previous years.

July 13 will see the public ride and the Iron Mountain Sportif, taking place, which will finish in Bailey Park on the same day as the annual Abergavenny Carnival is in full swing.

Then, on July 14, the main road race of the weekend, will see the best riders from around the country battling it out for the Grand Prix of Wales title, part of this year’s British Cycling premier calendar series.

This, Mr Owen said, will showcase Abergavenny and Monmouthshire to the nation as it is also being broadcast on TV.

He said: “We hope that people around Abergavenny will bear with us for a few hours, particularly on Sunday, when the road race takes place. Details of which roads will be closed are available on our website by looking at our visitors and resident information button on the home page.

“The organisation apologies for any inconvenience cause but the economic and long term benefits that this promotion brings are huge.”

A full list of events and lots of information from what is on, where to stay and road restrictions during the festival are available on www.abergavennyfestivalofcycling.co.uk, which is also the place to enter the Iron Mountain Sportif.

The South Wales Argus is an official media partner of this year’s Festival of Cycling, one of the UK’s biggest and best cycling events.