The organizers introduced a water bottle and a competition shirt made from recycled plastic used at the tournament in response to the "Green - clean - bright" Hue movement
After the opening ceremony at 17:00 pm on September 20, on the morning of September 21, at this same place, athletes of Coupe de Hue 2019 will embark on the journey to conquer the first challenge: "King of climbing up mountain Laguna Bach Ma". The route starts from Phu Van Lau and is 15km long, counting from the foot of Bach Ma Mountain to the peak at 1,200m above sea level.
On September 22, 2019 Coupe de Hue cyclists will begin the next challenge with two contents: Gran Fondo and Half Fondo. The Gran Fondo is a 150km route. After the warm-up from Phu Van Lau to the junction of National Road 49, the athletes will officially enter the competition with the destination of A Luoi district square and finishing at Phu Van Lau. In this route, the athletes will cycle on Ta Luong, Kim Quy, A Co passes with 196 bends, of which 58 bends have deep abyss.
In the Half Fondo stage, from Highway 49, the athletes will race to Binh Dien (Huong Tra Township), then turn back to finish at Phu Van Lau.
In the 2 days of competition, Coupe de Hue 2019 also has many parallel activities: boat racing, SUP racing, garbage cleaning on the Huong River, the vintage vespa parade around Hue citadel, exchange with Cadel Evans - former World champion of mountain bike racing (1998, 1999) and Tour de France (2007, 2011), 3 generations of Trinh Cong Son family cycling to call for the support of the environment and the parade of Thua Thien Hue bicycle clubs...
According to the organizing committee, nearly 1,000 athletes have registered to compete in cycling race, boat race, and SUP race. Among them are 125 athletes from 24 countries around the world with famous faces in international cycling competitions, such as: Javier Sardá (Spain), Chris Butler (USA), Cadel Evans - former world champion of mountain bike racing (1998, 1999) and Tour de France (2007, 2011) ...
“At this first time the race is held in Vietnam, the athletes will use the competition shirt and water bottle made from recycled plastic. These are environmentally friendly products provided by the organizing committee in response to a "Green - clean - bright" Hue”, said Nguyen Trung Truc, a member of the organizing committee.
Story and photo: Han Dang