Mon, Jul 08, 2019 page10

• Pakistan hosts ‘world’s toughest’ cycle race

  • AFP, KHUNJERAB, Pakistan
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  With a finish nearly 5,000m above sea level after hundreds of kilometers of winding past blackened glaciers and snow-capped peaks, a new Pakistani race presents a world-class challenge for cyclists: climbing toward the “Roof of the World.”

  The Tour de Khunjerab — its name a homage to its more famous French counterpart — is still many years away from being another Big Loop, but with a solid claim to being the highest cycling race in the world, it has a lot to offer a certain type of athlete.

  In the last week of June, about 88 cyclists, including two teams from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, as well as solo participants from Spain and Switzerland, took part in its second edition.

  

  Pakistani cyclists Hanzala, left, and Najeeb Ullah compete in the Tour de Khunjerab in Pakistan on June 30.

  Photo: AFP

  Less than half completed it within the allotted time.

  The four stages — three ranging from 68 to 94km plus a shorter time trial — are much shorter than many other cycling events, but there is one fundamental difference: the tour in Pakistan starts at 1,500m above sea level, and never stops climbing.

  The final day of this year’s event sums up the challenge.

  Starting at 2,800m — higher than the Iseran Pass, the summit of the Tour de France — it ends at 4,700m, just more than 100m short of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain.

  The Tour de Khunjerab must become “an attraction ... for the most daring and adventurous cyclists in the world,” said Usman Ahmed, the top official for the northern Gilgit region, home to some of the planet’s tallest peaks and where the race is held.

  The cyclists’ tires swallow up the asphalt of the Karakoram Highway, one of the highest paved roads in the world.

  Soaring, jagged peaks contrast with vertiginous ravines, glaciers driving a chill wind, and tumbling aquamarine rivers.

  Guardrails are a flimsy suggestion of protection from steep falls of hundreds of meters.

  “No doubt it is the toughest cycle race in the world. We are aiming to make it our trademark,” Pakistan Cycling Federation president Haroon General said.

  “The most difficult part of the race is the final stage where cyclists face shortage of oxygen and there is risk of heart issues... At such an altitude a person falls down [faints] after running for 200m, but our cyclists traveled for almost 59km,” he said.

  Five ambulances were on standby in case of emergencies in the final stage, he said, adding: “A majority of the cyclists made it, but the support staff needed ambulances.”

  The winner of the event, Najeeb Ullah — a Pakistani from a hilltop village in the southwestern province of Balochistan who won three of the four stages — said that breathing was a “problem” for him in the final climb.

  “I had to face a lot of difficulties while reaching the finishing line” — located at the Khunjerab Pass, the border between Pakistan and China — he said.
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