Portuguese wins MTB Himalaya cycle rally

This year's race has been described as the toughest in its nine-year history due to the new route and daily rain and thunderstorms

Luis Leao Pinto of Portugal won the ninth six-day MTB Himalaya cycle rally. This year's race was described as the toughest in its nine-year history due to the new route and daily rain and thunderstorms. In the overall standings, Pinto came first followed by Purna Bahadur Pradhan and Surendra Singh.

In the open men solo, Pinto stood first with a timing of 17:33:21 hours, Pradhan second with 21:27:27.

In the open women section, Laxmi Magar, Sowmya Urs and Shital Chavan.

Over 80 cyclists from 15 countries participated in the the cycle rally. The event is sponsored by the Discovery channel, among others .

To surprise the bikers the organisers changed the route this time. There were single and forest tracks. Jeep roads and one day there were challenging climbs of close to 2,000 metres. There were also back breaking uphill and steep downhill routes. On average, 70-80 km were covered daily.