The 7th Silk Road Messenger Cycling Challenge kicked off in Taizhou on Wednesday. Starting this year, the longest cycling event in Asia will include the cross-border cycling tour route from Khorgos in Xinjiang to Almaty in Kazakhstan. Let's go and take a close look.
Seven participants in the 7th "Silk Road Messenger" Bicycle Challenge will start from Taizhou, pass through Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and arrive in Zhaosu of Xinjiang. After a short rest, they will continue to go west to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to carry out cultural and artistic exchange activities before reaching their final destination Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.
In 2017, the first "Silk Road Messenger" Cycling Challenge started from Taizhou, passed through 29 cities in 5 provinces and 1 autonomous region before finally reached Zhaosu of Xinjiang. Covering 5171 kilometers in 26 days, they cyclists set the record for Asia’s first and the world’s second in terms of the cycling race mileage.
This year's race will create a new milestone again by opening the cross-border cycling tourism route from Khorgos, Xinjiang, China to Almaty, Kazakhstan for the first time over a one-month period.
“Our ‘Silk Road Messenger’ has been carrying out various activities on the platform of sports for many years. This year, we will hold a cultural exchange between Chinese and Kazakh teenagers at the National Art Museum in Kazakhstan, which is an important breakthrough in our cultural exchange this year”, Jiang Kai, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the "Silk Road Messenger" International Cycling Challenge, said.
