1st Visegrad Bicycle Race to culminate in Poland

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski: photo - PAP/Pawel Supernak

The programme of the two-day event, which is the brainchild of Minister Sikorski, was outlined at a press conference in Warsaw, Friday.

Some 300 amateur cyclists, both men and women, will cover a distance of 533 kilometres, from the Hungarian capital Budapest, through Slovakia and the Czech Republic, to the finishing line in Krakow, southern Poland.

The cash prizes amount to 100,000 euros, with 10,000 euros awarded to the best male and female competitors.

Addressing the conference, Sikorski said that the idea of the race is to promote the Visegrad Group as an instrument of cohesion policy in the Central European region.

He stressed that the event will be the crowning of Poland’s year-long presidency of the grouping, which ends on 30 June, adding that the Visegrad Group is to have ‘one more highly important sporting element’, referring to the joint bid of Poland and Slovakia to organize the Winter Olympic Games in the Tatra mountains in 2022.

Sikorski also said that thanks to EU funds, including the new long-term financial perspective for 2014-2020, it is possible to conclude the infrastructural projects serving the integration of the region, such as roads, railways and natural gas connectors linking Poland with the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The 1st Visegrad Bicycle Race will run from 17-18 May.(mk/nh)