Cycling

Cyclists in the HCM City Television Cycling Tournament 2024. This year's race will begin on April 3. Photos courtesy of organisers

HÀ NỘI — The nation's largest HCM City Television Cycling Tournament 2025 will begin on April 3 with 25 stages across the country's 31 cities and provinces.

The total length of this year's race is 3,052km, only about 268km shorter than the route of the most prestigious race on the planet, the Tour de France.

This year marks the second time that the annual tournament will cover more than 3,000km after 2018, when the race involved 30 stages.

The 37th edition of the event will feature the country's strongest cyclists, who not only have to bike as fast as possible on flat roads, but must also ride over eight high mountain passes. One pass, the 28km Khánh Lê Pass from Đà Lạt to Nha Trang, is considered the toughest and most challenging of the race.

Organisers introduce the routes for this year's HCM City Television Cycling Tournament.

In addition to individual awards, there is also a team time trial event, held on 24km at Cửa Lò Beach in Nghệ An Province.

The final stage will comprise 139km from Tây Ninh Province to HCM City on April 30, when the all participants will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975-2025).

The opening ceremony will be held on March 4 at Tuyên Quang Province's Nguyễn Tất Thành Square, which was honoured as an outstanding landscape project at the Asian Townscape Awards in 2022.

In the first stage, riders will take part in a 20-lap competition of 2.3km each around Tuyên Quang City, a new locality for the tournament.

The second stage is over 120km from Tuyên Quang to Hà Nội.

The longest stage is the seventh, from Nghệ An Province's Vinh City to Đồng Hới City in Quảng Bình Province, a distance of 197.5km.

In preparation for the race, many teams -- including An Giang, HCM City, Đồng Tháp and Đồng Nai -- have sent their cyclists to practise in Đà Lạt and Nha Trang, one of the most important routes that may decide their overall results.

Apart from the yellow jersey and trophy given to the winner, the organisers will also present other individual awards, such as a polka dot jersey for the King of Mountain, a green jersey for the best sprinter and a white jersey for an outstanding young rider.

Last year, Lộc Trời Group's Petr Rikunov of Russia took both the yellow and green jerseys, while his teammate Nguyễn Tấn Hoài secured the orange jersey for the best local rider.

"This is one of the most difficult competitions, with tough routes for Vietnamese racers," said Hoài.

"Depending on the athletes' condition, we must accumulate physical strength to endure long distances during practise. Meanwhile, we must also distribute our strength properly while racing to be able to overcome difficult stages." VNS