Courtesy of Red Bull Media Service Team
European XCM Champion makes ‘Double Everest’ in a possible world record.
European XCM Champion Tiago Ferreira undertook an amazing 17,753 meters of positive difference in just 24 hours on his mountain bike to make a Double Everest ascent and claim a possible world record. Here is all you need to know:
– Ferreira, 31, is one of the most successful cyclists in Portugal with several World, European and National MTB Cross Country Marathons titles to his name since 2013.
– For his latest challenge, he travelled to São Pedro do Sul in Portugal and on July 22 started a heroic ride from near the historic village of Gourim that saw him go from 10am that morning to 10am on July 23 with day temperatures close to 40°C and night around 15°C.
– With few stops and little rest over a 1.5km and 214m positive elevation course, Ferreira covered 17,753m of accumulated positive difference – climbing more than double the height of Mount Everest in the process.
– The 11 S curves of the route turned out to be a challenge for the Portuguese, who made the biggest advances in the accumulated gap during the day.
– At night, the pace slowed, but his ambition did not and his inspirational feat could now become a mountain bike world record as he waits for official certification.
– The Viseu athlete completed 83 climbs and a total of 247.5 kilometres on dirt tracks, suffering only one puncture during the intense, draining marathon effort.
– After braving the rugged landscapes of the São Macário Mountains, he said: “I am very happy to have achieved this goal! I thought that the night phase would be the most complicated, but dawn ended up bringing the greatest weight of tiredness, especially with pain in the hands and feet but I never thought about giving up, I was very well prepared and everything went well. I will wait three or four days until I can get back on the bike, then the normal preparation as I expect to return to UCI competitions as early as August.”
Tiago Ferreira career highlights
2017, 2019 | MTB XCM European Champion
2018 | 1st place La Leyenda del Dorado
2017 | World Runner-Up Champion MTB XCM
2016 | World Champion MTB XCM
2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 | National Champion MTB XCM