德国马洛亚车队/

After the invitation to the Tour de Taiwan in 2023, where Pushbiker Roy Eefting won the first stage ahead of Filippo Fortin in third place, it was clear to us that we wanted to race in Asia again, experience the world there and present Pushbikers and its partners there. A special stage race was on the programme in July. The Tour of Qinghai Lake, named after the largest lake in China, with a total of eight stages. Part of the UCI Asia Tour with the second-highest category 2.Pro – and known for its particularly high course.

Our seven Pushbikers Filippo, Felix, Martin, Matias, Patrick, Philip and Roy experienced what it’s like when the air gets thin in the truest sense of the word. Read about racing rituals, stages up to 3,900 metres, yaks at the roadside and enthusiasm for everything ‘western’.

‘We knew it would be difficult. Qinghai Lake is a high-level tour in which we are not among the favourites,’ says Martin Meiler. It is the highlight of the season for the Maloja Pushbikers Pro Team, an adventure, a big challenge for the team, which finished as the best German Continental team in 2023. Seven riders and four staff members board the China Airways Boeing 777 to Beijing. The subsequent domestic flight to Xining, high in the mountains, rattled and shook the Pushbikers – the turbulence was so strong that the aircraft needed two stormy landing attempts. 1193 kilometres on the bike now lay ahead of them when the Pushbikers arrived in China and the province of Qinghai, which stretches across the Tibetan plateau, a few days before the start of the race. And it immediately became clear that this race in communist China runs according to plan and is well organised: all athletes underwent a medical health check on arrival, were x-rayed and photographed, just like a 3D face scan at the airport. Then the acclimatisation and preparation for race days under extreme conditions began.

Day 1: It’s a quick turnaround: health check, team registration, a stage rehearsal. Our mechanic Sam is in his element, checking the equipment, setting up the bikes and getting the team ready to go. All 22 participating teams gather and follow their assigned female team ambassador with a large name badge in her hand. The Chinese flag is raised at the ceremonial conclusion. National pride and patriotism are paramount here and can be felt in every corner. I slowly realise how big and perfectly organised this Tour around Qinghai Lake really was. With every hour that passed, it became clearer: we are in the middle of Asia and the adventure has only just begun.

Day in, day out, the travelling circus called the ‘Tour of Qinghai Lake’ rolled from big city to small town and back again. I saw the boys every morning – hungry for the race and hungry for the rice for breakfast. Getting up early, clipping race numbers to their jerseys, packing all their luggage and equipment into the sprinter, which was travelling ahead to the next hotel in the finish town. And always before the start of the race, the organisers presented an opulent show of Chinese culture at the start line. Impressive and unusual for our eyes.

Three… Two… One… POOuuuch !
With a shot from the starting pistol, the colourful peloton sets off. The colours of the teams swirl in an unstructured jumble and the high-tech bikes hum. The race starts with a lap of honour and leaves Xining; the city is now silent. I’m sitting in the team car, surrounded by endless mountains, at an incredible starting altitude of 2,275 metres above sea level. The entire tour turns out to be a merciless mountain race. 3900 metres is not uncommon. The radio crackles constantly: choppy commands, nervous voices and the Pushbikers give their all.

The mountains bring the truth to light. There are no excuses here, no games of hide-and-seek – every rider shows what they are really made of. The thin mountain air does the rest to test their limits. You can see it on their faces: The pain, the determination, the last reserves being used up.

The sprinters? They curse the steep climbs as if they were fighting against themselves.
The all-rounders? They doggedly bite their way up as if they could force the mountain with sheer willpower.
The climbers? Ah, the climbers! They are in their element, instead of weakening them, they try to tactic, even though the route in front of them is completely unknown – like a map that only unfolds as you ride. It’s an epic battle against nature, against the competition and against themselves.

I quickly realise: everything is gone in seconds – the landscape, the people, the racers… everything! In the team car, everything is like a search run, like the fast-forward function of a video. Up hairpin bends, down hairpin bends. I jam myself in, hold on tight, hang myself out of the car, strap the camera so tightly into my hand that I don’t lose it. Sometimes I have the feeling that the team car is in the air and has lost its grip.

Through the radio walkie-talkies we get regular race status reports from the race organisers… ‘Break Away, kkkkkrrrrrh… 4 Riders! ‘Riders eighty-nine, one hundred, fifty-four, and seventy-one… kkkkkrrrrrh… in the breakaway!’… Leading Break Away, 58 Seconds from Peloton… ‘Team Maloja, kkkkrrrrh. Tkkkkrrrrrh, Team Maloja, please. Teamcar Maloja for Peloton!’ And then the same again in Chinese.

There was so much to see and experience every day for us as support staff. Unique snapshots, not just of cycling. We come down from the mountains and I see yaks at the side of the road. The faces and clothing of the people remind me more and more of Mongolians. Every now and then a professional cyclist shoots past us and I am relieved every time everything goes well. At some point, the view of Qinghai Lake opens up. The three of us in the car can’t believe it – the huge, bright turquoise lake looks like a sea, the other shore is nowhere to be seen. It is overwhelming! The colours glow, for a moment we are simply speechless, caught up in the beauty of this sight. For a few seconds, the excitement of the race fades into the background.

Now it’s time for the straight! The race is getting faster, the peloton is hungry. Again and again there are attacks, a breakaway – the game is in full swing. Once the peloton is lost, it becomes hell for any rider or small group to catch up. The closer we get to the finish, the more the peloton resembles a swarm of wasps relentlessly shifting against the wind. The radio reports can now be heard throughout, the tension in the air is palpable. More and more people are lining the roadsides, the city opens up and we rush into the city centre at a speed of at least 60 km/h. The team cars are relegated to the right, while the drivers catapult themselves to the finish line with all their might. Emotions boil over, adrenalin pulses through the veins – it’s an impressive spectacle of speed and risk.

I’ve seen guys riding up and down the mountains, distances of 200 kilometres at an average speed of over 45 km/h. I’ve watched them continue at full throttle in dark mountain tunnels after a tough climb and then shoot down the mountains at almost 100 km/h – in the rain! It’s a tough sport and the hardships are enormous. But amidst all the effort and struggle, there is an incredible beauty in cycling – the camaraderie, the unbridled will and the passion that every rider brings. It’s more than just a competition; it’s emotions that touch you deeply and don’t let go.’

(Stephanos Notopoulos)

It was only at the airport before the flight home that the Pushbikers learnt that the Tour of Qinghai Lake is the highest cycling race in the world. Roy Eefting rode to 13th place on the first stage, Matias Malmberg reached 15th place on stage 5, before his performance was rewarded with 8th place and a top 10 result on day 6 after 205 kilometres from Xihaizhen to Qilian. Four of our seven riders reached the finish line after the last stage. In the overall class Patrick Reissig finished 44th and Matias Malmberg 66th.