Bike Odyssey, the top mountain bike race in Greece, will be held for the seventh time this year in the Pindos mountain range.
The ultimate challenge for any biker, the race will run from 15-23 June.
Organisers announced that the race has been included in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) calendar of the world cycling federation for the first time this year.
Christos Makriyiannis, founder and organiser of the race, states that there will be more athletes competing from all around the world and of a higher calibre than ever before. The race is one of the most difficult worldwide. “The participants will enjoy nine days of mountain biking along the most beautiful routes of Pindos. The race will kick off from the village of Smixi and will end at Kato Tithorea in the region of Fokida with midway stops at the villages Kalliroi, Pyli, Kalyvia, Krikello and Athanassios Diakos. The total length of the race is 637.56 km with an altitude difference 20,531 metres,” Makriyiannis says.
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The cross-country event takes riders across paths and dirt roads in forests but also short paved sections. It passes through 57 mountain villages and through some beautiful landscapes.