More than 400 cyclists from 22 countries yesterday competed in this year’s King of the Mountain (KOM) Challenge race despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Danish cyclist John Ebsen, who has won the race three times, claimed another win in the men’s division, while Kuo Chia-chi (郭家齊) won the women’s division.
The number of competitors dropped from 730 last year to 425 this year, the Tourism Bureau said, adding that 103 of this year’s participants were foreigners living in Taiwan.
The bureau also reduced the top prize for the winners from NT$1 million (US$34,582) to NT$100,000 due to adjustments of budget priorities, Lin said.
The race, which is in its ninth year, has become an internationally well-known cycling competition, bureau deputy director-general Trust Lin (林信任) said, adding that it had in the past drawn many professional cyclists from Europe to compete.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, many of the international cycling races have either been canceled or postponed, and travel restrictions led to many professional cyclists not participating in the event, Lin said.
Despite the decreases in participants and prize money, Lin said that the bureau had decided that the race should be held as scheduled, as it is part of a long-running campaign to draw international tourists.
“As the bureau is promoting next year as the ‘Year of Cycling Tourism,’ we are preparing a series of events, including a virtual KOM Challenge race. Cyclists who are unable to come to Taiwan can experience what it is like to be in the race through virtual reality technology,” he said.
French magazine Le Cycle rated the 105km race as one of the world’s toughest races, as the cyclists climb to up to 3,275m above sea level.
The most challenging part of the race is the final ascent of about 10km, where the road has a slope of 17 to 27 percent steep.
Cyclists must finish the race within six-and-a-half hours.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS