A SPORTY 10-year-old will be cycling up a French mountain on a stage of the Tour-de-France to raise more than £1,000 for an Oxford hospice.

Gavin Siebert from Summertown, in Oxford, will join his dad Eric for the ride up Mont Ventoux, in Provence, next Saturday, following in the tracks of professional cyclists who have completed the same 43km route during the world's most famous bike race.

Gavin, a pupil at north Oxford's Dragon School, is raising money for Helen & Douglas House after he learned that a family member had been cared for by the charity. His mother’s cousin suffered from a chromosomal defect from birth and continued to receive care to help her with physical and mental difficulties throughout her life.

Gavin, from Hernes Crescent, is a keen cyclist and has taken his training with his father seriously. Together they regularly ride to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock. He said: “I ride to school every day too. I ride pretty much anywhere.”

This will be Gavin’s fourth journey to the summit of Mont Ventoux but his first on this particular route which is notoriously dangerous.

The slopes claimed the life of British cyclist Tom Simpson in 1967 who died of heart failure caused by exhaustion. Gavin and his father are still determined to complete the course and raise £1,612 for the hospice, £1 for every metre climbed.

The family have previously ridden around France, Panama, Italy and plan to try Thailand next.

The youngster decided to reject the standard road bike for a heavier option, saying: “It’s going to be a mountain bike because that’s the tradition.

"Dad is riding one too. I’m forcing him to make it fair!”

So intent is Gavin on reaching his fundraising target, he has asked for donations instead of presents for his 10th birthday – which coincides with the ride.

He said: “I think it’s important because it’s nice to help other people. So if I raise some money for them they can buy something fun like a football table, Risk or Monopoly.”

His father Eric said: “This has taught him that he’ll reach the fundraising goal £1 at a time, just as he’ll reach the summit by climbing one metre at a time.”

Gavin’s mother Sarah said: “We realised the importance of hospices to families of people suffering from congenital diseases.”

To donate visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/GavinSlaysVentoux