Registrations have just started for the cross-border MTB Xurés Bike Tour Fronteira Esquecida Limia/Lima, which will take place on 18, 19 and 20 June and will be located in the Gerês-Xurés Cross-border Biosphere Reserve (RBTGX).
The Diputación de Ourense, as Main Beneficiary of the Fronteira Esquecida Project, organizes this race within the activities to be developed in the project, 75% co-financed by the Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG V A Spain – Portugal Programme (POCTEP) 2014-2020.
The overall objective of the FRONTEIRA ESQUECIDA project is to enhance the natural and cultural resources of the Limia-Lima River and its surroundings. It also seeks to encourage border tourism, promote the practice of cross-border sport and encourage the knowledge of the Gerês-Xurés Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (RBTGX) and the Limia/Lima River.
The event will take place in the municipalities of Baixa Limia de Muíños and Lobios in Ourense and the neighbouring Portuguese territory, will have a three-day format, and can be carried out individually or in pairs.
This first edition will have a star sponsor, Pablo Rodríguez, cyclist from Ourense of BH TEMPLO CAFÉS, and will be equipped with all the anti-COVID-19 measures to comply with the health protocol. It will be limited to 300 participants.
The competition will start with a very technical prologue of 10 kilometres. The first stage will be more than 60 kilometres long and will have almost 1,800 metres of positive elevation gain. Its route will enter Portugal, in the Municipal Chamber of Montalegre, passing through Tourem and Pitoês das Junias, thus highlighting the cross-border nature of the event. Both sections will start and finish at the “O Corgo” Tourist-Sports Complex, in Muíños.
The second stage will take place in the municipality of Lobios, starting and finishing at the Hotel Balneario de Caldaria in Riocaldo. It will have about 40 kilometres, and with its 1200 metres of positive difference in altitude, will help to make the completion of this challenge epic, in the middle of the nature of the Gêres-Xurés Cross-border Biosphere Reserve (RBTGX), in the west of the province of Ourense.
