Community Matters: Tour of Beijing Promises Toughest Race to Date

Nick Richards | Sep 25, 2013 4:31 pm | Add a comment | 2229 reads

Credit: Dan Patitucci

Bike enthusiasts should prepare for an invasion of some the world's fastest cyclers next month. UCI's Tour of Beijing is set to continue in its third year with what they consider will be the most challenging race to date. From October 11 to 15, 19 teams from around the world will have the chance to compete in sprints, climbs and breakaways in a route that totals 836 kilometers around the capital. The most challenging route will be stage four, when racers tackle two category one climbs from Yanqing to the peak of Mentogou Miaofeng Mountain. Below is a breakdown of the five-day race.

Stage One: Shunyi to Huairou Studio City (190.5km)
Stage Two: Huairou Studio City to Yanqing (201.5km)
Stage Three: Yanqing to Qiandiajian (176km)
Stage Four: Yanqing to Mentougou Miaofeng Mountain (150.5km)
Stage Five: Tianan'men Square to Bird’s Nest Piazza (117km)

In 2012, Tour of Beijing was the fourth-most viewed tour in the world, with excellent coverage on local TV and German rider Tony Martin winning a splendid victory for the second year in a row. Participants and organizers also expressed great satisfaction with last year's race, noting the lengths Beijing municipality took to ensure the roads were clean and racers safe. For more information, you can visit the Tour of Beijing website.

In a lead up to the race, local bike club, Serk have been producing videos with Peter Carney Photography about bike culture in Beijing. We've embedded one of the videos for you to check out below and we'll be looking at this project in more depth in a later post.

For now, check out these great community events happening over the next week:

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