More than 700 cyclists from around the world are to compete in this year’s Taiwan KOM Challenge on Friday, organizers said.
The “King of the Mountain” race is the highlight of the Taiwan Cycling Festival organized by the Tourism Bureau.
The 105km route begins at Hualien’s Cisingtan Beach (七星潭) and finishes in Wuling (武嶺) on Hehuanshan (合歡山), 3,275m above sea level.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
About 90km of the 105km route has an average incline of 7 percent. The most challenging part is the final 10km, where cyclists have to battle inclines from 17 to 27 percent.
The Taiwan Cyclist Federation, which organizes the race, has increased the top prize to NT$500,000 this year.
Tourism Bureau deputy director-general Chang Hsi-tsung (張錫聰) said that the KOM Challenge has attracted more cyclists from overseas, as it is comparable to cycling in the Alps.
A warm-up race on Wednesday starts at Baishawan Bay (白沙灣) in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) and follows the North Coast and Yangjin highway to the Xiaoguanyin parking lot on Yangmingshan in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投).
The 36.8km route starts at sea level and finishes at 815m.
Some professional European riders who have registered for the KOM Challenge are to participate in the warm-up race, including Dutch cyclist Laurens ten Dam and British cyclist Tom Davies, the federation said.
Ten Dam finished eighth in the 2012 Vuelta a Espana and ninth in the 2014 Tour de France.
Taiwanese cyclist Sergio Tu (杜志濠), who won the National Cycling Road Race Championship this year, is also to compete in the warm-up race, the federation said.
“We hope that the warm-up for the Taiwan KOM Challenge will encourage more foreign cyclists to arrive in the nation earlier. They can experience cycling tours in Taiwan in a more profound way,” the federation said.
The KOM has drawn other top cyclists, including 2017 UK National Hill-Climb Champion Dan Evans and Australian Lucy Kennedy. Kennedy finished second in the Australian Time Trial Championships.
France’s Damien Monier and Briton Hayley Simmonds, who won the 2015 and 2017 KOM in the men’s and women’s categories respectively, are also to compete this year.
The number of KOM riders has risen since the race was first held in 2012, federation statistics showed.
Cyclists from overseas have begun to outnumber those from Taiwan, they showed.
This year, 412 are from overseas and 300 are Taiwanese, they showed.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS