AS CHRIS FROOME and the Tour de France pro-peloton stream over the finish line on the Champs-Elysees this coming Sunday, a bunch of unknown amateurs from Britain will be arriving at the slightly less glamorous destination of Enfield Town in north London.

Dubbed “Team Star,” the British peloton will be flowing through the Hertfordshire countryside at half the speed of their counterparts in Paris, but our riders — young and old, men and women — will be every bit as determined to cover themselves in glory.

Team Star will be completing 85km to mark the 85th  anniversary of the Daily Miracle — the paper that refuses to lie down and die. Our riders will brave the hills, the descents and the wind, and they will finish together as champions. With Team Star, everyone’s a winner.

“Socialism,” wrote the Chilean politician Jose Viera-Gallo, “can only arrive by bicycle.” It can also depart by tank, economic destabilisation and media manipulation. But the army generals who destroyed Salvador Allende’s government in a hail of bullets in the 1973 coup couldn’t kill off the idea that a better world is possible. And the Morning Star, as always, stood with the people, reporting the news the other papers tried to hide.

In Britain we have our own modern-day hero: that incorruptible man of integrity, Labour leadership contender and fellow cyclist, Jeremy Corbyn. The character assassinations, misrepresentations and downright lies have already begun before the deadline for voter registration has passed. Alone among the national dailies, the Morning Star accurately reports on the grassroots rebellion in the Labour Party and brings you the political and human stories behind the media smokescreen.

The Morning Star is your paper, your voice, your hope for a better future. Whether you can afford £85 or £8.50, we rely on you to survive and prosper. Please consider sponsoring the ride and let’s keep those wheels turning! 

There are three ways to sponsor the ride:

• To pay by card, phone the Morning Star on (020) 8510-0815 (lines are open between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday)
• Go to www.morningstaronline.co.uk/support to make a one-off donation and sponsor a rider
• Send us a cheque, payable to Merseyside Morning Star Supporters Group and send to Pedalling4Progress, 10 Hadassah Grove, Liverpool L17 8XH