On August 18, bike lovers participated in the fifth anniversary «Tour of World Class Almaty» cycling race in Almaty. The competition was held as a part of the celebration of the Sports Day in Kazakhstan, which is annually held on the third Sunday in August. More than 700 athletes from 12 years old came to the start. Cyclists were able to take part in one of three distances on a road or mountain bike (MTB).
At the children’s distance (14 km) 100 people took part. At the age category of 12-14 years old the leaders were Ruslan and Juliya Marchenko on road bikes and Kobilandy Nurgaliyev and Janna Omaradil on MTB. Among the participants of 15-17 years old, Danil Ostrenkov and Vladislava Artushenko (road bike) and Grigoriy Pashkin and Nataliya Safonova (MTB) were the first to cross the finish line.
The distance of 34 km was first covered by Alexey Bolovintsev and Elina Izmaylova among road bikers.
In the absolute standings, Nikita Fedotovskih (1:27:01) and Yekaterina Stepanova (1:37:40) became the winners at the longest distance of 57 km. Participants of 57 km race competed only on road bicycles.
The member of the Board of Trustees of the Corporate Fund "Courage to be the first", the organizer of the event, Olympic champion Alexander Vinokurov said:
“I am very happy that such large-scale sports events for amateurs are held in Kazakhstan. For the fifth year the organizers manage to gather a huge number of residents and guests of the city, who love cycling. Cycling is becoming increasingly popular among Almaty residents and necessary infrastructure is being created in the city. Every time I come to Almaty, I see how young people ride in the sky-blue form of our Astana cycling team. Thanks to such events, and success of our team at the world level, thanks to the development of cycling in Kazakhstan as a whole, every year more and more people are choosing bicycle and a healthy lifestyle.”
In addition to the traditional medals and awards, at the finish line all athletes were treated with the anniversary cake that read «Tour of World Class Almaty». Everyone could congratulate the organizers with the end of the fifth cycle race.
The annual cycling race is organized with the active support of the Akimat of Almaty. The organizers of the competition are the Corporate Fund "Courage to be the first" (organizer of the annual international Almaty marathon), the World Class Almaty Fitness Club and Academic Shakhmardan Yessenov Science and Education Foundation.
